Anglian in partnership to guide farmers in opportunities under government land management scheme

Anglian Water has partnered with not-for-profit, Land Management 2.0 to launch a free weekly webinar course to equip East of England land managers ahead of the introduction of the government’s Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) with funding for land owners who provide public benefit in managing their holdings.

“For the first time ever, farmers and land managers will need to incorporate how they will take advantage of new sources of funding that will shake-up the future of land management across the UK,” warned Anglian.

Founder and director of Land Management 2.0, Tim Hopkin, said: “Better managed farms require land managers to think strategically about how they're going to plan their holdings to tap into these new revenue streams.”

ELMS payments are likely, according to Anglian, to be granted for things such as cleaner water in the river systems, enhanced biodiversity, and improved soil management. “Having to remove agrichemicals from the raw water is challenging, and incurs significant costs every year for water companies,” said Anglian.

Anglian Water chief. Peter Simpson, added: “Greater collaboration between farmers and sustainable businesses such as Anglian Water has the potential to unlock huge benefits for our environment, ranging from increased biodiversity to improved water quality and carbon sequestration.

The webinars start on 1 April 2021. Each webinar will feature “industry-leading experts, thought leaders and practitioners sharing advice on how land managers can prepare to transform their land management activities to create viable, resilient business models that will allow them to take advantage of the emerging natural capital funding sources.”