Biodiversity Net Gain and conservation covenants are turning farmland into something new – land that earns a contracted income for 30 years or more. Yet most valuations still treat it as ordinary agricultural land. This risks getting the figure wrong for sales, lending and inheritance tax, and shows how a familiar commercial valuation method can put it right.
The rural market has changed – valuation practice needs to catch up
Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG), mandatory for most new development under the Environment Act 2021, together with conservation covenants and other long-term environmental agreements, has changed what farmland can earn. Land can now be tied into 30-year Section 106 agreements, burdened by conservation covenants, producing structured environmental income, or bought by institutional and green finance-backed investors.