Farming in Protected Landscapes

Grant funding for farmers

Farmers in the Lake District National Park will be able to benefit from a new national grants programme from 1 July, with more than £1 million available locally this year. Applications for the first year of funding should be made between 1 July 2021 and 31 January 2022, and grant funding decisions will be made on a monthly basis.

The new programme will look at funding Lake District projects under one or more of these four headings:

Climate

Includes projects that help address climate change like re-wiggling a straightened watercourse, for the biodiversity and natural flood management benefits this can bring, or assisting a farm to take actions to reduce carbon emissions.

Nature

Includes work that supports nature-friendly sustainable farms, allowing natural processes to develop across an area of land, or wetland creation to support a variety of wildlife.

People

Includes projects that provide opportunities for people to engage with the landscape. This could be working with new audiences to help them experience the Lake District, or being able to offer farm walks to help give people a greater insight into farming. Or it could be improving parking facilities, or replacing stiles with gates to make routes more accessible for locals and visitors.

Place

Includes work that supports cultural heritage, this could be conserving historic features on a farm or repairing dry stone walls. Or, supporting a locally-branded food initiative which promotes the links between the product and the landscape in which it is produced.

The Agricultural Transition Period 2020-2027

The Lake District National Park is running a series of farming events to help Lake District farmers get advice on a range of issues and opportunities that may affect them over the next few years. These events will focus specifically on the situation, regulations and visitor economy in the Lake District and are open to all landowners within the National Park. We will be running events on the new Forestry and Farming in Protected Landscapes funding grants over the next few months and will advertise the dates here.

Farming advice pages:

• Pop-up campsites, could this be an opportunity for you?
• Pop-up car parks, could this be an opportunity for you?
• Community Interest Companies

The Lake District National Park aims to;

• Help farmers preserve the attributes of the World Heritage Site by working with farmers to maintain the tradition of agro-pastoral upland farming.
• Enhance the special qualities of the Lake District National park by working with farmers, landowners and key partners to secure good environmental management and enable nature recovery in the park.
• Assist farmers in the Lake District in securing the future of their businesses through the agricultural transition by running the Farming in Protected Landscapes Scheme.
• Working with farmers to enable solutions to the key challenges of climate change, nature recovery and the future of farming and forestry in the Lake District.