CLA Land Management Contract

This report explains how a Land Management Contract should be designed and delivered in England as part of a new national agricultural policy once UK farming transitions away from the current system of direct payment. The CLA’s proposed Land Management Contract is a commercial business proposition, with the farmer entering a contract to provide clearly defined public benefits in return for guaranteed payments over the long term.

The paper emphasises that while a new public goods scheme delivered through Land Management Contracts presents significant opportunities for environmental improvement, these benefits will only be delivered if the new scheme attracts farmers and land managers by making good business sense. This will require the government to commit to transferring, over time, at least the current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) spend into the new public goods scheme, to ensure sufficient incentive.