Catchment Sensitive Farming: advice for farmers and land managers
Get help to improve water and air quality, and reduce flood risk on agricultural land.
Applies to England
Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) works with farmers and partners across England to produce food in a way that protects:
- water
- air
- soil
Your CSF adviser (CSFA) is locally based with an understanding of the challenges farmers face. They will work with you to take the latest advice and tailor it to best benefit your business.
CSF provides locally informed, confidential, on-farm advice to help you make decisions on:
- soil management
- nutrient, slurry, and manure management
- ammonia emission reduction
- farm infrastructure and machinery set-up
- pesticide handling
- water resources and natural flood management
- local environmental priorities
- land management
- agricultural transition, including grants
Get advice from CSF
You can ask CSF for advice by emailing your local mailbox. You must include:
- a brief description of your farm and query
- your farm address
- single business identifier (SBI) number (if you know it)
- your contact details
CSF will reply based on the environmental priorities in your area and will either:
- arrange a one to one consultation with your local CSFA within an agreed timeframe
- link to other sources of advice and information
We focus our support on farms that can make the greatest improvement to water and air quality.
Get help for queries related to the Countryside Stewardship.
Local mailboxes
- Devon and Cornwall.
- East Midlands.
- Humber.
- North Anglia.
- North East.
- North West.
- Severn.
- South Anglia.
- South East and Thames.
- Wessex.
1. Devon and Cornwall
csf.devoncornwall@naturalengland.org.uk
- Devon
- Cornwall
2. East Midlands
csf.eastmidlands@naturalengland.org.uk
- Derbyshire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Nottinghamshire
3. Humber
csf.humber@naturalengland.org.uk
- Humberside
- North Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
- West Yorkshire
4. North Anglia
csf.northanglia@naturalengland.org.uk
- Norfolk
- Suffolk
5. North East
csf.northeast@naturalengland.org.uk
- Cleveland
- Durham
- Northumberland
- Tyne and Wear
6. North west
csf.northwest@naturalengland.org.uk
- Cheshire
- Cumbria
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
- Merseyside
7. Severn
csf.severn@naturalengland.org.uk
- Gloucestershire
- Herefordshire
- Shropshire
- Staffordshire
- Warwickshire
- West Midlands
- Worcestershire
8. South Anglia
csf.southanglia@naturalengland.org.uk
- Bedfordshire
- Cambridgeshire
- Essex
- Hertfordshire
- Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
- Northamptonshire
- North Buckinghamshire
9. South East and Thames
csf.southeastthames@naturalengland.org.uk
- Berkshire
- Buckinghamshire
- Hampshire
- Isle of Wight
- Kent
- Oxfordshire
- Surrey
- Sussex
10. Wessex
csf.wessex@naturalengland.org.uk
- Dorset
- Somerset
- Wiltshire
Countryside Stewardship mid-tier and capital grants: get support and approval before you apply
To request support and approval for Countryside Stewardship, fill in the and send it to your local CSF mailbox at least 10 weeks before you intend to submit your application to the Rural Payments Agency.
CSF can only offer approval to proposals which address recommendations made by CSF on the farm holding.
Read Capital Grants: Countryside Stewardship and Mid Tier and Wildlife Offers: Countryside Stewardship for more information.
Working in partnership with CSF
CSF also works with a range of partners including:
- water companies
- local authorities
- trade bodies
- environmental organisations
- river trusts
This work includes:
- Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation programme with local authorities and the Environment Agency
- part-funding farm advisers in partnership with rivers trusts and National Parks authorities
- producing videos, tools and factsheets with Voluntary Initiative and Innovation for Agriculture
If your organisation is interested in working with CSF, email csf.partnerships@naturalengland.org.uk.
How CSF uses your data
For information about how CSF uses your data, or to find out how to opt out, read our privacy notice.
Updates to this page
Last updated 21 March 2023 + show all updates
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Updated the Catchment Sensitive Farming support request form.
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Added North Buckinghamshire to the list of counties under South Anglia.
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Added a list of services offered by Catchment Sensitive Farming.
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Page title changed to: Catchment Sensitive Farming: advice for farmers and land managers. Removed section on finding out if your land is in a high priority area.
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Mailbox for the south west region replaced with 2 new mailboxes: Devon and Cornwall, and Wessex.
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Added the section 'Countryside Stewardship 2022: get support and approval before you apply'.
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Changed the content to provide an overview of catchment sensitive farming and made it easier to contact your local adviser.
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Added local adviser contact details.
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Catchment sensitive farming officer support and approval request form added for Countryside Stewardship grants.
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Added 'flood and coastal management' to the list of topics covered by CSF.
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Updated the long-term catchment partnerships table.
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Added Hertfordshire to the long-term catchment partnerships table.
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Added section on how to check if land's in a high priority area.
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CSF is also working to improve air quality.
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Replaced catchment partnerships attachment with updated version.
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Details of new Countryside Stewardship water grant scheme added.
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reminder that final Capital Grant Scheme claims need to be submitted by 31 January 2015.
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added details of new Countryside Stewardship scheme
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Updated Catchment Sensitive Farming officer contact list
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First published.