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Farms campaign to boost wildlife
A GROUNDBREAKING initiative under which thousands of farmers will help to protect and enhance the countryside will be launched today.
An amount of land equivalent to the size of 179,000 football pitches will be left uncropped by farmers across the country to bolster the country's wildlife and landscape.
The move is being organised by farming and conservation groups alongside the Government and forms part of an agreement in which farmers will help encourage wildlife on their land – and several farms in Yorkshire aiming to provide an example to others.
Dubbed the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, the programme represents a major victory for the UK farming industry which faced compulsory provision of a certain quota of land for environmental work by the Government in order to qualify for vital subsidy cheques.
However, thanks to a concerted effort by farming organisations, a deal was struck with the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to allow farmers to promote wildlife on their land on a voluntary basis, rather than face Government regulation.
The voluntary Campaign for a Farmed Environment has been jointly set up by the National Farmers Union, the Country Land and Business Association CLA), the Farming and Wildlife Action Group among several others and sets a number of ambitious targets which includes increasing the current national level of voluntary environmental management schemes by at least 30,000 hectares.
The president of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall, has already dubbed the programme "the most ambitious campaign farming has ever faced" and all UK farmers have been warned that everyone needs to play their part in order to make it a success.
The regional director of the CLA for Yorkshire, Dorothy Fairburn, said as well as boosting farmland birds and protecting resources, the campaign would improve water quality and encourage wider biodiversity interests.
Once launched the three-year campaign will aim to extend and enhance the environmental benefits provided by existing stewardship schemes in 17 target counties nationwide. Three of these "county" areas will cover North, East and South Yorkshire, where up to 3,000 arable farms are expected to be involved.
The NFU regional director for Yorkshire Richard Ellison, said: "Thousands of farmers and landowners in Yorkshire have already signed up for the Government's Environmental Stewardship Scheme, which encourages a range of farm management options designed to boost biodiversity and protect precious resources such as soil and water.
"We also have a good story to tell about work being done to manage nearly 12,500 miles of hedgerows and on farmland birds we are proud of our achievements with species such as tree sparrows and skylarks – but much more can be done."
Local liaison groups are now being established in each area to drive the campaign forward, chaired by campaign champions Robert Campbell, Ian Backhouse and Russell Toothill.
Mr Toothill, who farms near Doncaster, said: "Our immediate challenge will be to retain the current high numbers of farmers participating in the Environmental Stewardship Programme."
Mr Campbell warned that the campaign's voluntary nature did not mean any less diligence could be exercised.
"We need the ongoing support of those farmers," he said.
GROWING SUCCESS STORY FOR FAMILY
CASE STUDY
Based in North Yorkshire, Andrew Gloag is proof of just how effective farmers can be at promoting ecology.
From his base at Busby House, Stokesley, Mr Gloag and his family have developed an extensive contract farming business, which has expanded rapidly over the last five years.
As a result, compared with the 220 acres of arable land farmed in 1984, he now crops around 4,000 acres, working with 12 local farming partners.
Given the nature of the North Yorkshire landscape, with relatively small field sizes, he has concentrated on enhanced hedgerow management and on introducing large buffer strips along watercourses.
All told, around three per cent of Mr Gloag's land is devoted to environmental practices. Brown hare are among a host of wildlife which now makes its home on his farm.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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