Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (UELS) was introduced in July 2010. It is a new strand of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme for farmers and land managers with at least one parcel of eligible land in a Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA).
The four objectives of the research were:
- To assess the awareness of and attitudes towards UELS among farmers and land managers in the Severely Disadvantaged Areas.
- To identify the factors affecting uptake of UELS in general and of particular options within the scheme.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of targeted UELS advice and support.
- To evaluate the above on the basis of: previous participation in an agri-environment scheme; region; farm type; tenancy/ownership and farm size.
The methodological approach adopted included a telephone survey of 804 UELS agreement holders and eligible non-agreement holders and 40 more in-depth face-to-face interviews with a cross-section of UELS agreement and non-agreement holders.
The main aim of this report is to contribute to the evidence base required to monitor and evaluate the implementation of UELS.