Your Gloucestershire county NFU update

On 7 July, Richard Wordsworth, our Senior Adviser (Support Schemes), visited Gloucestershire for a meeting focusing on the new SFI26 offer and the key things members need to know. 

Richard provided a reminder of the SFI baseline offer, the main changes for 2026, where the NFU has made a difference through our lobbying and also top tips for members who are considering applying. 

The evening was full of questions from members and Richard kindly shared his slides following the meeting. If you were unable to join the meeting but wish to see the slides, please contact us.

A huge thanks to Richard for joining us. 

STEPS (Severn Trent's Environmental Protection Scheme) is part of Severn Trent Water's Farming for Water catchment management programme. STEPS provides practical funding and expert advice to help farmers make improvements that work for their farms and support local water quality. STEPS is designed to help farmers identify the right action for the right farm. Like STEPS 2025, STEPS 2026 is based around 6 core objectives, all of which are designed to support the farm and benefit water quality. 

The deadline for applications is 11 December 2026.

You can find out more here.

The Environment Agency has released a video for farmers and contractors on slurry store construction and SSAFO regulations. It explains slurry and silage storage management, the benefits of getting it right, and how to stay compliant. Please click below to watch the video.

For more information: 

Farming Rules for Water: Guidance on Farming Rules for Water – NFUonline

SSAFO Regulations: Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil storage – what you need to know – NFUonline

As you are hopefully now aware, the rules for using rodenticides are changing and unless you have taken the Rodent Management Course and have the certificate from an approved provider, you will no longer be able to purchase rodenticides from 1 January 2026.

NFU has worked with Lantra so that we can provide this exam to our members at a discounted price of £95 + VAT.

If you would like to take this exam with NFU, please register your interest and we will look to run another session soon.

The CPRE are currently in the process of looking for land for hedgerow laying and planting and individuals who would be happy to host their sessions.

For planting, they would be looking for land that is clear and accessible (mowed or unplanted) that they can plant a new hedge into, or gaps within existing hedges that they can fill. They generally aim to do approximately 100m in a planting day, but this is  dependent of the number of volunteers present. If you have more than 100m, then CPRE could organise multiple days throughout the season to continue the work.

For laying, the land criteria has a few more requirements. In specific, it requires an existing hedge that has at least 2 plant species present and, is less than 14ft tall with stems that are not too thick, so that they can be easily moved by the volunteers.

If you have any questions or would like to get in touch about participating in the project, please contact Eve from CPRE at [email protected].