Climate change presents one of the greatest challenges facing agriculture, but farmers are also uniquely placed to be part of the solution. Across Northern Ireland, farmers are already taking practical steps to improve biodiversity, protect water quality, enhance soil health and capture carbon, helping to build more resilient farm businesses while delivering benefits for the wider environment. DAERA’s Farming with Nature Package (FwN) is designed to support and reward these efforts, recognising the vital role farmers play in tackling the climate and nature crises.

DAERA has provided almost £3m through the first strand of the Package, the Farming with Nature Transition Scheme, enabling farmers across Northern Ireland to deliver a wide range of environmental improvements. These include planting new hedgerows and trees, creating riparian buffer strips, establishing multi-species winter cover crops, and retaining winter stubble. Collectively these measures enhance biodiversity, protect water quality and sequester carbon, demonstrating how targeted government support can deliver real outcomes for nature and climate. Strong uptake in the Scheme highlights the effectiveness of DAERA’s approach and the positive response from farmers to the opportunities being provided through the Sustainable Agriculture Programme.

In the second year of the FwN Transition Scheme, DAERA has significantly expanded support for climate and environmental action on farms totalling c£9m. Farmers can now choose from a broader suite of 14 actions and access increased funding of up to £20,000 per farm, providing greater flexibility and scale to implement measures that help tackle climate change while supporting sustainable food production. New actions include two herbal ley options and three arable field margin options, alongside actions to manage hedgerows, trees and riparian buffer strips established under the Scheme in 2025. Future years of the scheme will see the number of actions expanded to 35, and funding up to £30,000 per farm by 2028/29.

Further investment in nature-friendly farming will continue as additional strands of the FwN Package are rolled out. Last month the FwN Higher Scheme opened and will see investment of up to £29 million over five years. It will provide targeted support for farmland within designated sites and priority habitat areas. It is aimed at farm businesses whose agreements under the Environmental Farming Scheme have expired, enabling them to continue the management of valuable habitats, such as peatland, and maintain positive environmental and carbon outcomes.

A further strand aimed at enabling collaborative landscape-scale projects is also planned for launch later in 2026, subject to approvals. This will help groups of farmers and stakeholders to work together to achieve stronger environmental outcomes.

The Farming with Nature Package is helping to translate Northern Ireland’s climate ambitions into practical action on farms. By supporting the creation of new hedgerows and trees, protecting watercourses through riparian buffers, improving soil health through cover crops and herbal leys, and enhancing carbon storage

across the farmed landscape, the Package is reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing carbon sequestration and strengthening resilience to the impacts of climate change. The first year alone delivered over 134km of hedgerows, 28 acres of trees, over 35km of riparian buffer strips, 670 hectares of winter cover crops and 836 hectares of winter stubble, demonstrating the scale of environmental improvement already being achieved. As the Package expands, it will make an increasingly important contribution towards Northern Ireland’s climate, biodiversity and water quality targets, while ensuring farmers remain at the heart of delivering a more sustainable and resilient future.

Further information on the Sustainable Agriculture Programme, including the Farming with Nature Package, is available via the link below. Sustainable Agriculture Programme | Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs