30 years of environmental stewardship wasted

Bracklandbarn

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Suffolk
I’m a little confused by the red/ green analogy... green is least productive farmland, but looking at the map it looks like the Lake District, South Downs, Dartmoor, Exmoor etc. Since these areas are predominantly grassland grazed by ruminants should these very areas be coloured red as areas that already sequester huge amounts of carbon?!

Call me a cynic, but are the areas in already in red the locations of large landowners, NGOs and farm clusters that have already signed up to ELMs/ Defra pilot schemes 🧐
 

Jonp

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Gwent
How shockingly awful to have to run a business making profit from your own labours without free cash from the tax payer. My heart bleeds...
Aren't there alot of businesses subsidised by tax payer cash via universal credit?
Never had subsidy never will...agree that you should be able to FARM profitably with out it.
If gov wants hedges planted or land rewilded (whatever that means) or other environmental schemes that take farm land away from production surely they should pay for that to happen?
 

S J H

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
Aren't there alot of businesses subsidised by tax payer cash via universal credit?
Never had subsidy never will...agree that you should be able to FARM profitably with out it.
If gov wants hedges planted or land rewilded (whatever that means) or other environmental schemes that take farm land away from production surely they should pay for that to happen?
I think a hedge with trees, offers a lot more, than the negative of the pasture land being taken out of production. I don't really understand why people need payments to do it.
 

ajd132

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Suffolk
Don’t miss the game changer,selling your carbon credits annually.

This will be the biggest incentive to farm in certain lower impact ways as ELMS is already a dodo,near enough as dead as.

Farming to maximise the sale of carbon credits will be the income stream of the future and will shape farming practices going forward.
Agree. I do find it funny when land owners say selling carbon credits is immoral, but have happily taken vast amounts of tax payer money for simply owning the land
 

S J H

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bedfordshire
Don’t miss the game changer,selling your carbon credits annually.

This will be the biggest incentive to farm in certain lower impact ways as ELMS is already a dodo,near enough as dead as.

Farming to maximise the sale of carbon credits will be the income stream of the future and will shape farming practices going forward.
Unless the chance to profit is taken away by legalisation.
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
Actually 31 years since we entered 12% of our farm into the original Countrywide Stewardship scheme. That 12% remains out of production today but now in Mid Tier. It’s seen various name changes of the scheme over the years such as ELS, HLS, ESS, CS - I’ve lost count to be honest but it matters not. The point is that land hasn’t been used commercially for 31 years.

In 2023 when our current scheme ends it’s going to be ripped up and we will crop every square inch of it. The new ELMS scheme is just astonishingly poor and DEFRA must think we’re all stupid if they think it’ll be adopted on mass. Our only option is to farm everything and farm it hard to push output in the hope it’ll go towards the loss of BPS.

The new ELMS schemes have been designed to end farming in this country. Our government is actively shutting us down through the removal of income that subsidised food production. They know it’ll hurt 80% of farms and their plan is to import food. The pandemic has taught them nothing.

It’s a sad state of affairs when 31 years of environmental good is ended due to poor government thinking.
@Janet Hughes Defra
thoughts please??
 

Raider112

Member
Agree. I do find it funny when land owners say selling carbon credits is immoral, but have happily taken vast amounts of tax payer money for simply owning the land
I think most of us preferred it when we were getting paid to produce rather than being paid not to but we didn't set the rules.
On carbon credits I feel it's disgusting that the large polluters are given free reign to carry on as they are while buying credits from a farmer who has to do very little to the land to be able to sell them.
I thought farmers were the polluters but we are the only ones with credits to spare.
 

Jackov Altraids

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon
Yet another whinging thread from those that have had too much too easy.

I think you have grossly misunderstood the content of those threads.

I don't read any comments as being ' I want lots of subsidy', I read them as making these basic points;

i, ELMS is being touted as a way of farmers claiming public money for public good, it isn't.

ii, It is claimed that farmers will have access to a pot of money the same size as BPS, they will not.

iii, It is called a Sustainable Farming Initiative, but isn't.

I think this thread perfectly encapsulates this.

I think most of us would rather the whole lot completely disappeared than have the behemoth of falsehoods that they currently plan to create.

And no doubt the failure to protect the environment, the wasted money and the bankruptcies, will be the farmers fault.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,293
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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