The NFU is a crucial supporter of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment and I am really pleased to see the launch of this excellent video. It shows some of the important environmental work that farmers are doing, but it also lays down a challenge.
CFE, as the industry led environment campaign, helps to balance and enhance the environmental value of farmland through measures that sit alongside productive agriculture.
As the industry looks towards the next CAP, ministers have recognised, through voluntary action, farmers can add value by taking advice from CFE. Now farmers have a real opportunity to ensure that ministers don’t need to make greening even more complicated than it already is.
I believe it is vital for farmers to grab this opportunity. Farmers who maintain environmental areas help build trust between the agricultural industry and Government, when it comes to a voluntary approach. Large areas of land are already managed for the environment under stewardship schemes or voluntary measures. These areas need to be retained and, where possible, enhanced.
The headline message that the CFE is now communicating to farmers is to retain the land you’ve got in environmental management, and, where possible to add value for the environment when choosing greening options.
CFE coordinators can help farmers to demonstrate how Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs) can be managed to benefit the environment. The particular focus will be to demonstrate how fallow land can work for your business and the environment.
You can see some examples of CFE measures in the video:
- Ally Hunter Blair of Channel 4’s First Time Farmers manages his field margins to protect hedgerows and watercourses
- Phil Jarvis (Vice Chair of NFU Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland) and other members of Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project are enhancing field corners for pollinators and birds.
- Fraser Hugill, CFE’s Yorkshire Coordinator, has fenced all his watercourses to keep his shorthorn cows out of the water.
Many of these measures can be included as part of greening requirements, while also helping to protect soil and watercourses and benefit wildlife. For further details, contact your local CFE coordinator or search the greening pages of the CFE website.
We will be sharing some more pictures of the Environmental measures that farmers are implementing. Look out for them on Twitter on #BackBritishFarming