A group of Norfolk farmers has set out to prove that "landscape-scale nature recovery" can not only be achieved by vast estates or national conservation bodies.
The Wensum Farmers Group (WFG) is a partnership of 29 landowners managing more than 10,000 hectares within this nationally-important river valley.
It has been selected to run a two-year "test and trial" of Defra's new Landscape Recovery scheme - one of three tiers in the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) which will replace EU subsidies being phased out after Brexit.
WFG adviser Lizzie Emmett said the Norfolk trial will start later this month.
She was encouraged to get involved when it emerged that the focus for the first wave of pilot schemes would be restoring protected rivers and threatened wildlife such as turtle doves - two of the group's main priorities in the Wensum valley.
"There are three tiers, but I decided we should go for Landscape Recovery because there were no other farmer-led groups going for that," she said.
"It was a majority of big estates and landowners, so I wanted to prove that farmers working together could do just as much for nature recovery.
"For us, the big thing about going into this landscape-scale test and trial is to look at collaboration and payments but also really focusing on whether, as a collaborative group of regular farmers over a large area, we are capable of the level of recovery they are pitching 'Tier 3' (Landscape Recovery) at."
The Wensum Farmers Group has recently become registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC), which Miss Emmett hopes will boost its credentials.
"The feeling I get is that those Tier 3 agreements will be with big polished organisations, and it will be very competitive," she said.
"There won't be any individual farmers in those, but perhaps you could have a Tier 2 (Local Nature Recovery), which is a bit like Countryside Stewardship to pay for things like wild bird mixes, but you could have a leg in Tier 3 which is a much larger nature recovery scheme that you can do as a whole group."
The Wensum farms trial will look at incentives and payments, as well as self-assessment options.
Miss Emmett said: "Defra wants to work out of there is a better way of incentivising farmers rather than just income foregone, so we will be looking at the role of collaboration and competition and how it drives farmers to do better."
The trial will also look at how to ensure the scheme works for a diverse range of land users including landowners, tenants, nature reserves and commons, as well as exploring options for "blended finance" - combining public and private funding.
Amid a shifting policy landscape, Miss Emmett said she had three tips for farmers.
"One is that all farmers should be part of a collaborative group, because it is a really valuable resource," she said.
"Secondly, get a handle on all your assets, and start looking at things you maybe never thought of as assets before, like hedgerows.
"And third, if you can, get into the existing Countryside Stewardship scheme, because you will be in a better position for the new schemes."
The Landscape Recovery scheme aims to support "radical changes to land-use change and habitat restoration" such as establishing new nature reserves, restoring floodplains, or creating woodland and wetlands.
It will run alongside the other two ELMS tiers. The Local Nature Recovery scheme will pay farmers for locally-targeted actions such as creating wildlife habitat, planting trees or restoring peat and wetland areas.
And the Sustainable Farming Incentive, announced last year, will reward sustainable and soil-friendly practices at a farm level.
Defra said more than 3,000 farmers across the country are involved in testing the new schemes.
Environment secretary George Eustice said: “We want to see profitable farming businesses producing nutritious food, underpinning a growing rural economy, where nature is recovering and people have better access to it.
“We are building these schemes together, and we are already working with over 3,000 farmers across the sector to test and trial our future approach.
"Farmers will be able to choose which scheme or combination of schemes works best for their business, and we will support them to do so.”
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