Yorkshire: prime opportunity for farming and shooting, says BASC

Three new agri-environment schemes present a prime opportunity for rural collaboration Pic credit: Richard Faulks

The government’s new environmental land management schemes for England present the opportunity for shooting and farming to work closer than ever, says BASC’s Ian Danby. This is independent paid for content from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation – headline sponsor of the Yorkshire Post Rural Awards.

It will not be news to readers of the Yorkshire Post that farming is in the midst of a post-Brexit sea-change.

The financial support available to farmers and the markets they are selling to are changing. However, the three new agri-environment schemes set to take the place of England’s long-running countryside stewardship schemes present a prime opportunity for rural collaboration.

Under the plans – which see the new schemes being rolled out from 2024 following the current pilot phase – farms are having to look at ways to diversify their income streams. This is where the shooting sector comes in.

The value of shooting

So, what of the added value a shooting tenant brings to a farm and to matters in the public interest?

Shooting and farming joining forces is not a new idea, with shoots often contributing income into a farm business through rents. Value in kind is universal, with people who shoot preventing crops from damage by woodpigeon and rabbits or managing fox numbers and crows to protect lambs, for example.

Where shoots can really deliver is by extending good habitat on the farm or improving the condition of existing habitat for nature. Often this means people on the ground, something many farms have in limited supply as workers are busy running the main farm business. However, when provided, good habitat is increasingly saleable by the farmer to help diversify their income.

It’s also paramount that shooting and shoot tenants add value for the public purse.

On target

At the turn of this year, George Eustice stressed the pivotal role that the agri-environment schemes will play in the government’s objectives of halting the decline of species by 2030.

These will bring up to 60% of England’s agricultural soil under sustainable management by 2030 and restore 300,000 hectares of wildlife habitat by 2042. BASC has been tracking and inputting to the development of the schemes and it’s these targets that shooting can help farmers work to.

2022 is the second pilot year for the basic offering Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which aims to appeal to 70% of farmers in England. It will pay farmers to produce ‘public goods’ like improved water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare, flood protection and climate change mitigation, alongside food production.

The standards to which farmers must deliver to get SFI payments are also fundamental to the creation of a good shoot.

For instance, the arable standard requires fields in the scheme to have 70% green cover, such as autumn sown crops, weedy stubble or a cover crop. Across the UK, shoots maintain 25,000ha of dedicated cover crop habitat, which is purposely left unharvested to provide a source of food and shelter for an array of wildlife as well as for gamebirds.

Promoting nature recovery

The next level, Local Nature Recovery, which is going to be openly trialled in 2023, will pay for interventions which make space for nature in farmed landscapes and the wider countryside, alongside food production.

These could be done on parts of the farm that are less productive or difficult to work. A shoot can use these areas to create improved habitat such as shelter belts, cover crops and managed woodland.

There are two elements where having people who shoot on farm will be essential to meet the requirements of the scheme.

One is the management of deer and grey squirrels to protect trees. This is available as an option in this and next year’s countryside stewardship agreements but is widely expected to be brought into Local Nature Recovery.

The other requirement was in Defra’s Future Farming blog in May. This centres around the management and control of predators to support the recovery and reintroduction of particular wildlife species.

Landscape scale change

The Landscape Recovery Scheme, the highest level of payment offering, is aimed at large-scale and long-term projects to provide landscape and ecosystem recovery.

Targeted at areas between 500 and 5000 hectares with an agreement term of 30 years, this is a substantial undertaking for any landowner to consider. What’s more, Defra has made it clear that farming is not the purpose of these agreements.

The scheme lends itself to collaboration, where landowners like shooting estates work together to conserve key species such as the curlew, or habitat restoration such as rewetting peatland.

Part of the solution

The new schemes offer a significant opportunity for farmers and landowners to work with the shooting community to put forward good quality applications for funding.

On top of this, and importantly, shooting on farmland is going to be directly necessary to meet some of the developing options.

Find out more at BASC.