Yesterday the great and the good of the farming industry packed into a chilly barn on the border of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to get very enthusiastic about saving wildlife.
There was enthusiastic talk of changing the way our countryside is farmed to help protect birds, and admissions from farming leaders that the intensification of farming in recent decades has had negative impacts on the environment. They even invited government minister Hilary Benn along and nodded in agreement to every word he said.
Sound a little far fetched? Well get with the programme because things are changing in our countryside and this could be the beginning of something pretty special. Yesterday saw the launch of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment – and it’s hit the headlines in the farming press as well as the national newspapers.
The venue was the family farm of NFU president Peter Kendall and with guests including decision makers from all the main farming industry organisations, government environmental bodies and countryside conservation groups, this was clearly being taken seriously by all those involved.
But why? Campaigns, environmental schemes and rural projects are being launched all the time and few of them ever get this kind of fanfare and attention. Well a little background will help put things in perspective.
Back in the 70s and 80s grain and butter mountains caused by over production of food were resulting in falling produce prices. In response the Government introduced the policy of set aside. All this land left out of production provided a great habitat for farmland birds which was lost when the markets changed course, food prices rose and set aside was abolished in 2007.
Farmland birds are already suffering – they are now at half the level they were at in 1970 – so loss of this habitat could prove to be disastrous in the long term. In response the Government started looking for a way to replace the set aside policy and protect farmland birds and other wildlife. And after a lot of negotiation, debate and general to-ing and fro-ing, we have now arrived at the Campaign for the Farmed Environment.
It’s a voluntary scheme, so – aptly for the target audience of farmers – it’s more about carrots than sticks. But it’s one we urgently need to be successful, because if we lose skylarks from our skies, yellowhammers from our hedgerows and grey partridges from our wheat fields then our countryside will lose its heart.
This post was mentioned on Twitter by ConservatioNews: Will farmers see the lark ascending? - http://is.gd/4P0tp - RSPB
I'm a dairy farmer near the Peak District and was wondering if farmland bird numbers have halved since the 1970's doesn't this show that set aside is infact not very useful method to try and reverse this decline. Surely more targeted measures such as through ELS and HLS will be much more effective than blanket areas of set aside with questionable wildlife value?
Also set aside never applied to permanent grassland so for farms like ours (www.shawfarmholidays.co.uk) there has historically never been any realistic incentives to protect other farmland birds such as lapwing, snipe etc. We are trying to get into the HLS scheme in order to restore and maintain habitat for these birds but the amount of paperwork involved needs to be seen to be believed! Also the financial reward from these schemes is significantly less than the income we currently generate from farming the land intensively. However we still hope to set up an agreement as both my parents are members of the RSPB.
Hi Burgo,
The largest declines in farmland birds took place before set aside came into force in the 1980s. The environmental benefits of set aside were incidental to its aim - which was to deal with surplus produce. While it was beneficial for farmland wildlife and helped to slow the declines in farmland birds, it wasn't targeted in any structured way. So, yes, you're right, well chosen and located ELS and HLS options are much more effective than blanket set aside, however that isn't to say that set aside was entirely useless. It was particularly useful for ground nesting birds, such as skylark and lapwing, and those that forage for seeds in the winter, for example, yellowhammer and linnet. These are all species which benefit from in-field measures, such as set aside or selected in-field options from ELS/HLS. This is why the RSPB is keen to work with the Campaign for the Farmed Environment to encourage farmers to take up in-field options, either through ELS or voluntarily.
After years of debate on the issue of farmland wildlife the Campaign for the Farmed Environment seems to have united the industry, conservationists and the Government in a way that has never happened before - but it is only farmers who will be able to make the aims of the campaign a reality.
The Campaign is aimed at arable farmland but the RSPB also works hard to support grassland farmers like yourself who want to make a difference for the birds on their farms too. This is why we are currently carrying out research into realistic in-field solutions for birds, wildlife and farmers on grassland farms which, if successful, we will advocate for inclusion into ELS and HLS at the earliest opportunity. We also advocate that all agri-environment options rightly reflect income forgone. Our work, including advice from our network of farmland advisors, will mean more options for grassland farmers to choose, which benefit farmland birds and farm budgets.
Good luck with your efforts with HLS - and with that mountain of paperwork!