Jules Marley: Brexit is chance to change face of British farming

THERE is no denying the importance of farming, and not just because it provides a good deal of the food we eat.
The CPRE advocates more farms like Swillington Organic Farm near Leeds.The CPRE advocates more farms like Swillington Organic Farm near Leeds.
The CPRE advocates more farms like Swillington Organic Farm near Leeds.

Over the course of millennia, agriculture has shaped the varied patchwork of landscapes that make up the English countryside.

Farms and farmers have been the beating heart of rural life, strongly connected to the communities and character of the countryside. And the image of the farmyard, with cows, sheep and chickens side-by-side, occupies a prominent place in the national psyche.

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But farming has been undergoing a transformation for a number of years – to the detriment of our environment and the sector itself.

Industrialised farming has become increasingly specialised, with fewer crops, more monocultures and the loss of livestock from the countryside. Soil biodiversity and organic matter are frequently disregarded, even though they are crucial to recycling nutrients, sustaining the food chain, storing water and locking up carbon.

Furthermore, farms are disappearing: we have lost more than 30,000 during the past decade alone. With fewer people farming and fewer working the land, the public is less linked than ever to the land that feeds them.

Brexit presents us with a chance to reverse these trends. For 40 years most policy affecting farming has come from the EU, with farmers paid directly via the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

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Now, with the UK set to leave the EU, we have an opportunity to shape a new farming policy that meets our current needs and tackles our most pressing problems.

This is a challenge that must be grasped with both hands by the Government and all those who care about the environment and the future of farming.

And, at the centre of the inevitable debates, we must set the goal of creating a financially stable and innovative farming industry that works for both the wider community and the environment.

So how do we go about making this happen? One thing is certain: farming must retain the public funding on which many farmers’ livelihoods depends. Without these sums, roughly half of farming is uneconomic. Volatile markets and low prices at the farm gate make profitable farming highly challenging.

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But while public funding should remain, it should be used more shrewdly to ensure farming delivers what is in the public interest – and this doesn’t just mean more food.

We need to reward farmers for delivering the public benefits that the market won’t pay for: wildlife, recreation space, clean rivers, glorious landscapes, less flood risk and efforts to tackling climate change. This will not only improve our natural environment, but help to make farming fit for the future.

To increase diversity in farming, funding should also be tapered so that it benefits more farms and farmers. Right now, estimates suggest that around 80 per cent of funding goes to the largest 20 per cent of businesses.

Supporting smaller farms and making more land available to new groups of people will increase innovation and make farming more resilient to future challenges.

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More diverse farms will also create stronger connections to communities and support for short, local supply chains. Local people will be able to buy local food that is connected to seasons, plot and place.

With a closer link between farming and nearby communities, public finance will surely be more publicly accountable.

Examples of this bright future for farming are already springing up all over the country.

One of these is Swillington Organic Farm near Leeds, which runs a programme of tree and hedge planting, coppicing and reedbed management to nurture the area’s wildlife. Loyal customers use the farm as a place to get together, while the farm runs a community-supported agriculture scheme with more than 50 members, producing chicken, pork and vegetables.

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Another example is Thorpe Farm just outside Sheffield. The farm is carefully maintained for wildlife and has been accredited under the Peak District Environmental Quality Mark.

They have planted new trees and hedges, bought new slurry injecting equipment, and reduced ploughing, which lowers greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to this work, the farm hosts more than 74 bird species including little owls, curlews, green woodpeckers and kestrels. The business is strongly supported by the local community, who know that they’re buying food that has been produced in environmentally friendly ways.

A bright future for farming is possible, but policy needs to reflect that farming isn’t like just any other business. We now have the chance to make farming in England fit for the future. Let’s take it.

Jules Marley is the regional chair of the CPRE.

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