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Farmer Nature Reporting Process Guidance for farms in England
Farmer Nature Reporting Process Guidance for farms in England
Simla Rees-Moorlah avatar
Written by Simla Rees-Moorlah
Updated today

Step 1: Creating a Land App account

Create a FREE Land App account by registering here.

Step 2: Creating a map

If you have created a new account we automatically take you into a new map called New Map - Please ensure you change the name to be “FarmName_Surname_SupplierName”, this guidance shows how.

If you are already have a Land App account you will need to create a new map in your Land App account (guidance here). ENSURE you follow the correct naming structure for your map “FarmName_Surname_SupplierName”.

Step 3: Creating a plan of your field parcel boundaries

Create your Field Parcel Boundaries for your holding by importing your field parcel data using a Single Business Identifier. Ensure you import the data into the Basic payment Scheme (BPS) template. Select New in the top left of your map, Import data, Import from Rural Payments, input your SBI and your dataset as Land Covers. Select the Basic payment Scheme template and name the plan “BPS_FarmName_SupplierName”.

Step 4: Creating a Baseline Habitat Assessment plan

Translate your BPS Plan to Baseline Habitat Assessment plan using “Duplicate” to the “Baseline Habitat Assessment V2” template (guidance here). ENSURE you follow the correct naming structure “BHA_FarmName_SupplierName”.

If your RPA Data is missing parcels, you can draw new features using the “Area” tool (guidance here) or by adding fields from the Land Registry “Data Layer” details on how here.

Increase the accuracy of your baseline by:

  1. Changing the habitats by assigning a different land use to your fields (guidance here).

    We recommend that you assign habitats that are of UK Habitat Classification level 3 or higher as this ensures the best quality results from your Nature Reporting submissions. The codes for Level 3 habitats (viewable beside the habitat name) contain one letter and one number (e.g. g2: Calcareous grassland). You can also assigned Level 4 & 5 habitats which have additional digits in their codes (e.g. g2a: Lowland calcareous grassland). For more detail on UK Habitat Classifications please visit https://ukhab.org/.

  2. Adding more detailed features to the map including linear features such as hedgerows (guidance here), drawing field corner or plots such as wildflower patches, scrub or bird cover (guidance here) and creating margins or buffers (guidance here).

Step 5: Creating a Land Management Plan (NOT ESSENTIAL FOR ALL PROJECTS)

If you would like to/or are required to create a Land Management Plan, you will need to create a new plan (guidance here) and select the “Land Management Plan V2” template.

You can then copy fields where you are planning land management changes to this plan (guidance here) and edit and assign habitats to these features using the same tools as for you Baseline Habitat Assessment. ENSURE you follow the correct naming structure “LMP_FarmName_SupplierName”.

Step 6: Submit you Map

Once you are happy with your plans, you can share the map with the required Nature Reporting Organisation.

What happens next

Now that you have submitted your data, your bespoke farm report will be shared with you. It will provide insights into your farm's impact on biodiversity, suggest where changes could have the greatest effect, and highlight key risks and opportunities.

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