NFU members are invited to free events to find out how Ecological Focus Areas can benefit both businesses and the farmed environment, despite new restrictions on the use of plant protection products.
The complete ban on the use of plant protection products on the EFA field-based options will make nitrogen-fixing crops, previously a popular choice, a more challenging option.
CFE project officer Anna Cuckow urged farmers to attend: “Now is the time to ensure you are making the most of your EFAs - making a good business decision, complying with the new rules and helping enhance the countryside. It will be a few hours well spent."
Click here for more information on the events and to secure your place (numbers are limited):
Jim Egan, CFE delivery group chair from GWCT’s Allerton Project, said: “All these events should really help provide some answers. I hope farmers will take this chance to come and look at the opportunities.”
There will be short talks from NFU BPS advisers, Kings and Syngenta representatives and a farm walk, giving attendees access to the very latest updates and opportunity to quiz the experts.
At the Allerton Project, there will be tours of enhanced EFA fallow plots established by Kings and being managed without plant protection products. This will give attendees an extra insight into the 2018 changes.
Syngenta environmental initiatives manager Belinda Bailey explains why Syngenta and Kings are sponsoring the events: “We believe EFAs create an ideal opportunity to deliver more for wildlife, without taking extra land out of production. However, growers and agronomists must be fully up to date with the latest legislation.”
Changes to greening in 2018 will also be discussed at all CFE’s farm walks across the country this November and December.
These 17 free on-farm events will focus on ways to protect soil and water, alongside producing food, and are held in collaboration with the Woodland Trust and Catchment Sensitive Farming.