OAKBANK NEWS AND BLOG

As many of you will know, we have been pushing the benefits of Miscanthus for game cover for a number of years, and this year, more than ever, miscanthus has proved a saviour for many shoots. There is now an opportunity to grow this crop as an alternative cash crop, as we have teamed up with ESG Natural Capital to offer long-term, lucrative contracts to grow this sustainable, carbon sequestering, low-input crop. We are looking for growers from across the UK although, due to h

We are delighted to announce the launch of The Oakbank Pod, a new series exploring the practical realities of modern land management and conservation across the UK. We will be bringing together farmers, gamekeepers, ecologists and other specialists to share their insights, real‑world experience and stories behind successful conservation projects. Episode 8 - All Things Hedgerows with Richard Negus 👉 The episode with Richard Negus is available to stream here, as well as on A

Two changes to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) were announced this month: Agreement holders who have five-year options which expire in December 2026, as well as options which run until 2031, will be invited to extend them for another five years, to maintain the environmental benefits of the scheme. This will allow all options to expire at the same time. On 21st July, applications opened to farmers and land managers in England for the new single-focus Higher Tier (C

Companion cropping has been moving from niche practice to mainstream arable management for a few years now. Increased interest from growers has looked to improve resilience, reduce inputs and build healthier soils. As the 2026 drilling season approaches, Phil Jarvis, Head of Operations at Oakbank, and Harry Moffat, Senior Advisor, discuss why the focus is not simply on growing a crop, it is also on choosing the right companion for the right outcome. Oilseed rape is coming bac

Defra's offer of £225m capital grants for farm investment in England including an interactive summary.

If SFI26's £100,000 annual cap means your habitat is no longer funded, you still have realistic options: Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, an alternative land use such as BNG, renewables or woodland, or returning the land to production. Sadly the imposition of a monetary cap, rather than a percentage of land cap, will have huge negative effects on the provision of wildlife habitats across England. However, before you go and plough out areas of now unfunded habitat to bring

Tens of thousands of agreements are about to end, a new SFI26 round has opened with a fixed pot, and Higher Tier is coming back gradually. Here is the picture as it stands in July 2026. England is heading towards the biggest churn of agri-environment agreements for some time. The individual announcements paint one picture and we have brought together some headline figures to highlight another. Fig 1. Live agri-environment agreements in England by scheme, 2023 to 2030; figures

The government's 25-year roadmap puts soil, habitat and farm wildlife at the heart of food production. We'd urge every land manager to read carefully how it intends to pay for all this, because the smart money may be on acting now. Yesterday (24th June), Defra published Farming Roadmap 2050: Growing England's Future, alongside its response to Baroness Batters' Farming Profitability Review. For those of us who have spent our careers arguing that productive farming and a recove

The UK’s funding mechanisms for supporting innovation in agriculture have repeatedly exposed gaps between agricultural research and real-world application. Farmers looking for financially beneficial and environmentally responsible production systems often hit the buffers when it comes to interpreting complex trials data and results. So, the latest ADOPT fund (Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies) was launched last year. In particular an Oakbank/Toby Simpson/

Today, we are pleased to welcome Phil Jarvis as Oakbank’s new Head of Operations. Phil brings an exceptional combination of hands-on farming experience, environmental land management expertise and industry leadership. His career has included arable and livestock farming in the UK, over 20 years with the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project and senior roles within Albanwise. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and former Chair of the National Farmers Union En

At 5am on Saturday 30th May, nine intrepid walkers set out from the Ben Nevis Visitors Centre in Fort William. The challenge was to climb the three highest peaks in the UK in under 24 hours to raise money for Brain Tumour Research. The mighty Oakbank team aka Barringer's Army, would climb over 3,000 metres, do 25 miles worth of walking, travel over 1,500 miles and, throughout this endeavour, would be surrounded by great people. All of this was in memory of our dear friend and

The publication this month of a joint survey by Confor, Royal Forestry Society (RFS) and Country Land and Business Association (CLA) has put woodland owners squarely in the spotlight. Its findings make for interesting reading: almost half of the 204 respondents expect to be affected by the April 2026 changes to Agricultural Property Relief (APR) and Business Property Relief (BPR) and nearly 60% say they are now less likely to plant new woodland as a result. Apparently, some h

On 15 April 2026, Defra published responses to two parallel Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) consultations and opened a third on an additional targeted exemption for brownfield residential development. Together, the responses confirm when major infrastructure projects will start drawing on the off-site biodiversity unit market, exempt around half of the smallest residential sites, and broaden the geography in which a land parcel can supply units to a development. What has been con

The UK Government has launched a joint consultation and call for evidence on modernising fertilisers legislation , led by Defra and supported by the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. The consultation is now open and will run until 13th May 2026. What is the UK fertiliser consultation proposing? The proposals aim to repeal existing fertiliser product legislation (which covers the rules surrounding the supply of fertiliser) and replace it

The UK Government has published England’s Land Use Framework, aiming to balance multiple, competing demands on our finite land resources, support smarter land use decisions and accelerate environmental improvements by providing a "single, shared vision" and better data for planners, farmers and communities. It comes after years of calls for such a joined-up approach, notably from Henry Dimbleby, who in his 2021 National Food Strategy recommended a rural land use framework (th

Addressing deer pressure is a core concern for anyone managing woodlands and the government has just unveiled a 10-year plan to help. In England, land use change, introduction of non-native species and a lack of natural predators have contributed to increased deer impacts. Without action, excessive deer pressure prevents young trees from establishing, degrades habitats (for example, undergrowth habitat loss has contributed to over 90% increase in nightingale numbers since the

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Emma Reynolds, announced in her speech at the NFU Conference the welcome return of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2026, with a dedicated budget of £50m. FETF 2026 will re-open for applications on 17th March and will be available to all eligible farmers, growers, forestry owners and contractors in England (those registered with the RPA with an Single Business Identifier (SBI) number.) 💡 This annou

Defra has unveiled new details of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2026 scheme in England. Announced today at the NFU conference, the SFI 2026 offer will reopen with some significant changes, including more restricted options and a £100,000 payment cap on agreements. At the Oxford Farming Conference in January, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds already signalled fewer, more targeted options, highlighting that 90% of SFI spending went on fewer than 40 of the 102 avail

This week, a new global report published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) examines the interdependencies between business and biodiversity. In a world that has to grapple with new ways of achieving economic growth, without further degrading nature, the assessment is that despite data quality and methodologies improving, global business remains too tangled in complexity to deliver meaningful nature-positive action

Another season closes and, unless you are packing for late partridges abroad, the game book and a few photographs are doing most of the talking. Before those memories fade, February is the month to look after what’s left, walk the ground with clear eyes and set foundations for next season. Keep feeding, keep cover Natural food is at its thinnest in February and March, and winter cover is at a premium, especially in locations particularly badly affected by the 2025 drought and