Loftus farmer praises government pilot scheme which pays him not to cut the grass

Defra introduced the pilot following Brexit and as part of the transition from the old Basic Payments Scheme (BPS) to other measures such as Sustainable Farming Initiatives (SFI), Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs) and Countryside Stewardship Schemes.

Mr Miller, who is third generation at Rosecroft, has been running the farm with his brother Tony, but as they both wanted to wind down before retirement they opted to take part in the scheme.

Rosecroft had always operated as a dairy farm but last year the 75 strong herd were sold and replaced with 30 Aberdeen Angus. It has cut down the hours they need to work on the farm and allowed them to try out the environmental incentives as an alternative way of income.

He said: "Dairy is full on pressure, milking twice a day. We find this a lot more relaxing, we were doing 60 hours a week, we are doing 30 now.

“There is no meat yet (with the Aberdeen Angus) but that is a long term thing. The first two calves were born two months ago and it will be 14 months before we can sell them, hence we entered the government scheme when they offered the pilot, and we went for that until we can sell the beef.”

Mr Miller opted into hedgrows, soil and woodland. After the first year he opted out of woodland as it wasn’t economically viable and took on soil as the payments were more lucrative.

He let hedges and grass grow, carried out rotational grazing so grass swords remain at a certain height and increased organic matter in the soil.

Trees were planted in corners of fields where there is little other use and it has also led to a cure for problem gorse bushes which Mr Miller had tried to cut, burn and bulldoze to get rid of, as the new trees shaded the bushes out.

Rosecroft also has a traditional farm orchard where the branches that fall from old apple trees are used by insects and birds for nesting while the apples are used for creating juice. They also allow a local bee-keeper to station his hives in the orchard in exchange for a jar of honey a month.

During the walk, which attracted farmers from across Yorkshire, Mr Miller also shared lessons he had learned such as using wooden pallets to make tree guards as livestock would eat the saplings and not leaving hedges for three years uncut as it then led to “a hell of a job” for his contractor.

Mr Miller said: “I am quite impressed with the way that it has happened and the way that they have used the pilot scheme as a sounding board to develop the other schemes.

"It is like being paid not to do something. We are paid not to cut hedges and not to cut the grass. It is pretty much stuff we were doing anyway.”

He said the schemes may draw criticism but added that prior to this, other schemes that were aired and were less favourable involved farms taking land out of food production.

The Miller family got into farming following the First World War when Paul’s grandfather, Tom Miller was discharged from the army in 1916 after losing as eye due to a shrapnel injury. He says it saved his life and he took a farm near Lealholm in the North York Moors before renting Rosecroft from Zetland Estates. In the 1960s tenants were given the opportunity to buy their farms which the Mllers did.