Farmers and land managers are being encouraged to apply for Countryside Stewardship (CS) agreements to reward them for their efforts to protect and improve their natural environment as the new scheme opens for applications today (8 February). Countryside Stewardship gives farmers the opportunity to be paid for environmental work alongside sustainable food production, from restoring wildlife habitats and creating woodlands to managing flood risks. Farmers in Countryside Stewardship will be well placed to enter the new Local Nature Recovery scheme – one of the three new environmental land manage…