 |
Farmer James Hinchliffe inspects the teasels he grows to provide food for wild birds over the winter.
|
A farm that for the last eight years has been at the forefront of the drive to develop environmental best practice for the arable sector played host to the official launch of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) in Yorkshire.
This three-year voluntary campaign aims to protect and enhance the countryside, encourage greater biodiversity and provide improved habitats for farmland birds primarily across North, South and East Yorkshire where up to 3,000 arable farms could be involved.
To help get the campaign off to a flying start, local farmers and farming leaders joined industry specialists, government representatives and environmentalists at Tophouse Farm, Rawcliffe Bridge near Goole for the official launch.
Opening speaker, the NFU’s national Crops Board Chairman and Goole Farmer, Ian Backhouse said the challenge was to deliver a culture change in both farming practices and the way farmers approach regulation.
“This is the most ambitious campaign we have ever faced,” he said, “and the whole industry from suppliers and advisers to farmers and landowners must join forces to make it work.”
As a result Mr Backhouse thanked the Hinchliffe family for hosting the event on their farm, which since 2002 has also been the site of an extensive biodiversity project in collaboration with crop protection specialists, BASF.
Over nearly a decade, this project has demonstrated how simple changes designed to improve overall biodiversity on-farm can co-exist with sound commercial farming.*
This, said Mr Backhouse, was a crucial message for local farmers who thanks to the project, had a wonderful resource that could help them achieve the challenging targets laid down for the campaign.
From an industry perspective, the campaign is being led by the NFU and the CLA (Country Land and Business Association), however its reach will be much greater thanks to the involvement of other partners: the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Agricultural Industries Confederation, the Association of Independent Crop Consultants, the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers plus Natural England, the Environment Agency and the RSPB.
Regional Director of the CLA, Dorothy Fairburn said the campaign was already making good progress.
“CFE represents a truly collaborative approach and that gives it the best possible chance of success,” she said. Thousands of farmers and landowners across Yorkshire are already actively involved in environmental management, so we are certainly not starting from scratch.
“And you only have to look at the pioneering work going on at BASF Rawcliffe Bridge, where a range of simple measures have resulted in some impressive increases in the numbers of bird, plant and wildlife species - to see that Yorkshire farmers will certainly not be short of inspiration, let alone specialist support and advice.”
Also speaking at the launch, Regional Director for Natural England, Peter Nottage, reaffirmed the government’s support for the campaign. He said:
“Natural England fully supports this exciting initiative, which shows how the farming industry and government can work together to develop alternatives to regulation.
“The collective will to make this work is clearly there and I am sure the region’s farmers will respond positively to this challenge. We now look forward to seeing the benefits that an increase in the uptake of our Environmental Stewardship schemes will bring to precious farm wildlife, farmland birds and resource protection.”
David Dangerfield, the Environment Agency’s Regional Director for the Yorkshire and North East Region, was also at the launch.
“We are delighted to be a key partner in this important initiative,” he said, “It is absolutely essential that we look after our natural resources and prioritise the protection of our soil, water and biodiversity.
“We have a responsibility to the future and looking after our environmental resources makes good business sense too. The farming industry and ourselves share the same aim; safe and profitable production to meet society’s needs from healthy soils, whilst enhancing the environment.”
For more information about the campaign, log onto the campaign website.
No comments have been made.