Do you have Permanent Grassland in your farming system?

[Brid @ ADAS]

ADAS are looking for farmers and land managers to participate in a research project on Permanent Grasslands in UK farming systems. This is part of the Horizon 2020 Super-G project.

We will be conducting telephone interviews with UK farmers and land managers throughout January and February 2021 to learn how their grassland is being managed. Participants who complete a telephone interview with us will be entered into a £500 prize draw.

The interview will follow a structured set of questions for approximately 1 hr 15 min. Questions will cover:

• Your farm, including the size of your farm, area of grassland, the type of livestock you keep and in what numbers (annual average), and the income structure of the business.
• Your thoughts about farming and Permanent Grassland.
• Your current and anticipated future management of Permanent Grassland in your system.
• What influences the decisions you make with regard to Permanent Grassland in your system.
• Your farming education and background.

If you're interested in participating, you can register your details here through Survey Monkey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJGD8BC or contact [email protected]

About SUPER-G

SUPER-G is a five year EU programme which aims to provide evidence and solutions to improve the way grasslands throughout Europe are used to produce food as well as other benefits such as biodiversity, flood protection and recreation. The programme is working to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems and policies with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisers and policymakers.

 

[Fergieman]

Over an hour of our time for the 'chance to win something. Bit mean IMHO. Try getting a lawyer to give to an hour of their time FOC.

 

[neilo]

About SUPER-G

SUPER-G is a five year EU programme which aims to provide evidence and solutions to improve the way grasslands throughout Europe are used to produce food as well as other benefits such as biodiversity, flood protection and recreation. The programme is working to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems and policies with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisers and policymakers.

Genuine question, how are we still involved in a 'five year EU programme'? Haven't we left the EU?

 

[delilah]

The programme is working to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems

PP is the most sustainable land use we have. No work required.

and policies with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisers and policymakers.

Pay all area based ELMS money to PP.

see, that didn't take an hour .

 

[Henarar]

Over an hour of our time for the 'chance to win something. Bit mean IMHO. Try getting a lawyer to give to an hour of their time FOC.

Done a survey for a bale wrap company about 10 minutes and they sent me a 20 quid voucher

 

[yellowbelly]

SUPER-G is a five year EU programme

Now, if ADAS was still being run by DEFRA, we'd all think nowt of such a schoolboy error.

BUT, seeing as it's now a private operation, we'd have to think to ourselves, 'Should we waste our time and our information on a big outfit who think we're still in the EU?'

Or is it just a case of somebody found themselves a cushy little job they could do from home to keep 'upper management' thinking they were earning their keep and don't want to have to shelve it and find something else to do?

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Now, if ADAS was still being run by DEFRA, we'd all think nowt of such a schoolboy error.

BUT, seeing as it's now a private operation, we'd have to think to ourselves, 'Should we waste our time and our information on a big outfit who think we're still in the EU?'

Or is it just a case of somebody found themselves a cushy little job they could do from home to keep 'upper management' thinking they were earning their keep and don't want to have to shelve it and find something else to do?

Trying to creep to the front of the line of "trusted advisers" that DEFRA keep talking about to run ELMS I suspect. I stopped trusting ADAS well before they were privatised.

 

[JP1]

ADAS are looking for farmers and land managers to participate in a research project on Permanent Grasslands in UK farming systems. This is part of the Horizon 2020 Super-G project.

We will be conducting telephone interviews with UK farmers and land managers throughout January and February 2021 to learn how their grassland is being managed. Participants who complete a telephone interview with us will be entered into a £500 prize draw.

The interview will follow a structured set of questions for approximately 1 hr 15 min. Questions will cover:

• Your farm, including the size of your farm, area of grassland, the type of livestock you keep and in what numbers (annual average), and the income structure of the business.
• Your thoughts about farming and Permanent Grassland.
• Your current and anticipated future management of Permanent Grassland in your system.
• What influences the decisions you make with regard to Permanent Grassland in your system.
• Your farming education and background.

If you're interested in participating, you can register your details here through Survey Monkey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJGD8BC or contact [email protected]

About SUPER-G

SUPER-G is a five year EU programme which aims to provide evidence and solutions to improve the way grasslands throughout Europe are used to produce food as well as other benefits such as biodiversity, flood protection and recreation. The programme is working to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems and policies with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisers and policymakers.

Frankly you've been paid levy money from livestock farmers and you'd be far better off using that money in the following directions:

• Study the anti-livestock, vegan , false blame on ruminants for climate change propaganda and produce reasoned , succinct , factually based compelling material and advertise it direct to the consumer and UK voting public , cc'ing in to DEFRA at all levels
• Perhaps you could use some of that EU funding to question HMG why they whipped the voting down of the Parrish Amendments in the Agriculture Bill last month consigning all UK farmers to being regulated at a higher level whilst simultaneously permitting food imports produced to standards below our own legal standards (in fact stand everyone down at AHDB and just blow the entire budget on that one)
• You know the biggest impediments to the use of permanent pasture in the UK for livestock farming are lack of decent opportunities for livestock farming; supermarket driven EUROP grid grading (works against native breeds), minimum weight thresholds, maximum age thresholds (30 month a legacy of a CJD panic that never happened and now a tax on over 28 month for climate change), closure of local small abattoirs, livestock markets, local hauliers , even local State Veterinary Offices.
• Tour the Country and see how much greenfield, lowland grassland is being built upon even with known flooding history
• Future abandonment of permanent pasture will be down to State sanctioned aforrestation (no, monoculture Sitka delivers no wildlife benefits nor carbon or rain capture)
• Further under use of permanent pasture will occur as the age profile of farmers climbs with no land or tenancy reforms
• Write a report highlighting how DEFRA seems to wish to legislate even further over livestock standards in the UK (witness the NGO-speak "consultation" currently in process from DEFRA ostensibly dog whistle promising an end to live exports but actually impacting every livestock farmer in the country with a raft of crazy ill thought out other implications and nothing to do with exports.). DEFRA are run by other agendas and seem to be detached from any rural grounding or understanding. For the aforementioned the WATO regs are perfectly adequate

As a child in the sixties and growing up in the 70's and 80's I guess I was lucky to see a UK livestock industry in it's hey-day ; good mixed farms, farming that followed the distance to market , geography , topography , rainfall and soil types, livestock markets (some that were the Stockyard of Europe (put that in your report)

Since then I've just seen a steady decline in the respect for farming, lack of knowledge on where food comes from and how to cook from fresh and a plethora of bodies that frankly don't assist in that reversal; I ask of you would you see the same happening in Ireland or France? Food waste, food labelling, provenance, farmer's share of the weekly food bill let alone the actual tiny cost of food to the consumer compared with the past, milk that's cheaper than bottled water, the list is endless.

You can have all of the above for free, no need to enter me for a prize. Just read and ingest and (if you GENUINELY are interested in understanding) maybe remember some of these points when you're off lockdown and carrying your Costa in to a Red Tractor stakeholder meeting or reporting in to the Minister

 

[onesiedale]

ADAS are looking for farmers and land managers to participate in a research project on Permanent Grasslands in UK farming systems. This is part of the Horizon 2020 Super-G project.

We will be conducting telephone interviews with UK farmers and land managers throughout January and February 2021 to learn how their grassland is being managed. Participants who complete a telephone interview with us will be entered into a £500 prize draw.

The interview will follow a structured set of questions for approximately 1 hr 15 min. Questions will cover:

• Your farm, including the size of your farm, area of grassland, the type of livestock you keep and in what numbers (annual average), and the income structure of the business.
• Your thoughts about farming and Permanent Grassland.
• Your current and anticipated future management of Permanent Grassland in your system.
• What influences the decisions you make with regard to Permanent Grassland in your system.
• Your farming education and background.

If you're interested in participating, you can register your details here through Survey Monkey https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJGD8BC or contact [email protected]

About SUPER-G

SUPER-G is a five year EU programme which aims to provide evidence and solutions to improve the way grasslands throughout Europe are used to produce food as well as other benefits such as biodiversity, flood protection and recreation. The programme is working to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems and policies with a range of stakeholders, including farmers, advisers and policymakers.

Hour and a half telephone interview!
You seriously need to get a grip on how to conduct a survey. I hope you are not being paid any public money for this research.

I am getting a bit concerned about this 'co-develop' word. Sounds to me like you've taken the DEFRA money to dream up a project to pat yourself on the back and tell the whole world what is already known.
PP is a carbon sink.
PP is grazed by ruminants.
PP is a food producing landscape.
PP is home to most of the diverse ecosystems.
PP is what most of the countryside visiting public associate with a beautiful landscape.
PP stores more water than other landscapes.

By the end of this thread you will probably reach the conclusions you need.
Could you therefore please just donate the £500 prize + 10% of your fee to RABI

 

[Agrivator]

What is the definition of Permanent Pasture?

 

[Jerry]

I participated in a meeting re elms. Took 45mins and by they paid £50 plus vat to me.

I was happy to take part at that.

 

[BELOWAVERAGE]

Will Brid@ADAS ever bother viewing this thread again, to read what's here.

 

[neilo]

I participated in a meeting re elms. Took 45mins and by they paid £50 plus vat to me.

I was happy to take part at that.

I had a 30 minute telephone interview regarding the new Welsh scheme. The tight buggers never offered me a penny.
I did think it was important to put a farmer’s views into the pot though, otherwise these schemes will be devised around ideas from those tossers Packham & Monbiot.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I have put many hours into this over the last year, probably several hundred. Some was via the NFU, some via the CLA, some direct with DEFRA in web meetings and some via CIWEM, my professional body. We MUST be part of the discussion or it will be done on our behalf and foisted on us.

I don't agree with helping a paid consultancy doing it though at the taxpayer expense and getting nothing for my time myself.

 

[neilo]

I have put many hours into this over the last year, probably several hundred. Some was via the NFU, some via the CLA, some direct with DEFRA in web meetings and some via CIWEM, my professional body. We MUST be part of the discussion or it will be done on our behalf and foisted on us.

I don't agree with helping a paid consultancy doing it though at the taxpayer expense and getting nothing for my time myself.

To be fair, if civil servants were carrying it out, they would be getting paid too. Somebody has to facilitate it and collate responses.

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

To be fair, if civil servants were carrying it out, they would be getting paid too. Somebody has to facilitate it and collate responses.

Agreed but for DEFRA staff it is their job to create the scheme. Consultants like ADAS are seeing this as an opportunity to grab paid work in gathering views from farmers and then presenting a summary to DEFRA with a bill for their service. In my view DEFRA should should be talking to farmers direct or the critical diversity and nuance will be lost in the collation and interpretation. ADAS and other consultants won't really care whether the final scheme is a good one or not, they'll still see it as a cash cow to milk.

Aplogies if I sound angry on this.

 

[onesiedale]

To be fair, if civil servants were carrying it out, they would be getting paid too. Somebody has to facilitate it and collate responses.

Agreed. But can you imagine the dog's breakfast of responses after a 1½hour telephone survey?
DEFRA will just be told either what they want to hear or what ADAS want them to hear.
. . . "More research will be needed so that all stakeholders concerns have been considered"
That'll be another £10k consultation fee please.

 

[FARMERJERRY]

This thread has become a typical TFF thread already-no one has looked at the details-but kicked off on a rant about something else

LOOK AT THE LINK-the project is nothing to do with ELMS but is a European funded project which ADAS are paid by a European research organisation to run.

 

[Agrivator]

But nowhere in the preliminary survey do they define what they mean by Permanent Pasture.

Can anyone on here offer a definition?

 

[delilah]

This thread has become a typical TFF thread already-no one has looked at the details-but kicked off on a rant about something else

LOOK AT THE LINK-the project is nothing to do with ELMS but is a European funded project which ADAS are paid by a European research organisation to run.

If it is nothing to do with ELMS - that is to say, the results wont be seen by anyone who is in any way connected to developing ELMS - then why would the survey be of interest to us ? Genuine question.