Hilary Benn has made his decision on set-aside and it's not exactly what we wanted - let's not beat about the bush. But nor is it exactly what the NFU and CLA wanted either so the Secretary of State has done a good political job in steering a course between Scylla and Charybdis.
Mr Benn has pinned the farming organisations down to targets on the extra land that should be entered into Entry Level Scheme agreements and put into environmental management on those farms not signed up to ELS. So now the ball is in Peter Kendall's (the NFU President's) court to deliver his promises to raise the enthusiasm of the farming community for saving farmland birds. And if Peter can't deliver, then the prospect of regulation remains.
Both Peter Kendall and Hilary Benn face election campaigns before this time next year. The NFU President's smart manoeuvring on set-aside is likely to win him votes, whereas the bookmakers seem quite confident there will be a different government making the decisions about set-aside, farmland birds and the environment next summer. We'll have to see, but it is always likely that a Conservative government will be even more in favour of a voluntary approach to environmental delivery than a Labour Government. Jim Paice, the Shadow Agriculture Minister is quoted as being keen on the voluntary approach, keen on biodiversity but less keen on targets for the area of land to be managed for wildlife. Mr Paice says a Conservative Government will not be bound by this decision.
Defra has put a huge amount of trust in the NFU's ability to persuade farmers to give more back to wildlife and that burden may weigh heavily on Peter Kendall's shoulders. Every farmer I've met for weeks has said that they support the voluntary approach and when asked why they grin and say 'because we won't have to do anything different'. That's the mountain that Peter Kendall now has to climb.
We'll help as much as we can with the NFU campaign to save farmland birds - we'll be enthusiastic partners. We believe that this is a tough challenge for everyone in the farming community and action to deliver must start immediately. Will Peter Kendall's farm now have skylark plots in every wheat field from next year?
And a postscript: this letter appeared in today's Daily Telegraph (though is not in the online version so I can't give you a link):
Sir – finally a decision has been made on how to address the environmental impact of the loss of set-aside. The Government has backed the idea of an industry campaign to encourage farmers voluntarily to provide environmental measures on farms.
We had supported an alternative approach of linking farm subsidies to providing a small percentage of land for wildlife. This would have brought greater certainty for the environment, and would have ensured that all farmers played a part in providing for wildlife.
What matters now is that the farming industry campaign delivers results. We will, of course, help where we can. We will also watch carefully to see that the targets the industry has agreed with the Government are met. If not, we will make sure that the mandatory fall-back identified by Hilary Benn, the Environment Secretary, is activated.
Mr Benn has placed considerable trust in farming industry leaders, and they must now ensure that all their members play a part in making the campaign succeed.
Matt Sharlow, Buglife, Shaun Spiers, CPRE, Stephanie Hilborne, The Wildlife Trusts, Dave Williams, Badger Trust, Andy Atkins. FoE, Barbara Handley, Hawk and Owl Trust. Kirsten Knap, Wildlife and Countryside Link, Mark Avery, RSPB