Pictured above: John Cooke
Farmers in the region are being urged to think of the
environment when planning their cropping and field work this year
to help the industry meet key targets in a voluntary campaign to
protect biodiversity in the countryside.
The Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) is an industry
initiative launched to encourage the voluntary uptake of management
of farmland for environmental benefit, aiming to exceed the
benefits formerly achieved through set-aside.
"Although progress is being made, many landowners are still not
fully aware of the objectives," says John Cooke, graduate
practitioner with Berrys at Shrewsbury.
"It is vital that CFE meets its aim of doubling the area of key
target options both within and outside Entry Level Stewardship
(ELS) by 2012 or farmers could face more statutory regulation from
Europe, forcing them to provide wildlife benefits and possibly
seeing the return of compulsory set-aside and measures which would
lead to more red tape."
The CFE focuses on three main areas: farmland birds, resource
protection and farmland wildlife and uses the ELS scheme as the
main vehicle to promote conservation and enhancement of these
resources.
"Many farms currently have some land which resembles set-aside,
buffer strips next to watercourses, areas of game cover, un-cropped
headlands or areas of land which are voluntarily managed to benefit
wildlife and are not incorporated into an environment scheme.
"We are urging farmers and landowners to record these features
on the Defra's July Census or the CFE website as it is thought that
if all these features were recorded, the CFE would be very close to
meeting its target and will be able to avoid further regulation
from Brussels," he explained.
With Defra taking its share of cuts in the government's
austerity measures, changes may lie ahead for Environmental
Stewardship in the future.
"The Higher Level Stewardship budget more than doubled in the
West Midlands region between 2008 and 2010. Natural England has
just released the budget for HLS Schemes and it has confirmed that
the region will benefit from more funding for the establishment of
new HLS schemes between 2011 and 2014, a very welcome move for
farmers who may be looking to enter the HLS scheme. More
disappointing was the announcement that budget for amendments and
improvements to existing HLS agreements has been reduced slightly
and the annual payments for permissive access have now been removed
from any new agreements" said John.
"New HLS schemes will need to be more focussed on priority
targets and within the HLS target areas to stand a reasonable
chance of success."
Uptake of Entry Level Stewardship in Shropshire has been good
with around 60 per cent of eligible land in the county currently
being managed under the scheme. However, there are still farms
without an ELS agreement in place which could benefit from the
scheme which pays £30/ha of eligible land, subject to meeting
the Natural England points target.
"Although the ELS budget is still looking healthy, it is worth
banking schemes as soon as possible while there is some certainty,"
said John.
For more information on Environmental Stewardship contact John
Cooke or Mandy Seedhouse at Berrys Shrewsbury office on 01743
271697 or email john.cooke@berrybros.com
For more information about Berrys, please visit their website
here: www.berrybros.com