- Location
- East Sussex
I admire the optimism in that we’d get listened to but I’m thinking this is just going to end in some round robin argument.
We’ll just get what we’re given as usual.
We’ll just get what we’re given as usual.
That would certainly create a lot of jobs for the inspectors . When I was in HLS they sent someone out to see if my options were increasing lapwing numbers. Chap sat there all day until he saw one fly over. That’ll do he said, ticked the box and left. I knew there were loads over the road at the sand and gravel quarry, where they’d let a lot of the holes fill up with water and reclaimed land .If we're going to go down this road.....
Pay folks for running a 1970's museum.
Flat rate for each farmer, none of this paying on 1000's acres so folks can buy more 1000's acres.
Pay on results too....
Have you actually got barn owls / hedgehogs / swallows / multi species of trees / hedgerow millage etc. Too many waffle on about wildlife corridors and nature habitat, yet preside over a clinical farmyard and vast prairie lands which are devoid of anything at all.
Let's get this straight---
You want me to pay you to put a crop in for a few months to improve your land?---If you want payments for something it better be tangible , long term and of primary benefit to me the individual taxpayer
So you can reduce your artificial N inputs (save you money)
So you pollute the water less? --If you are doing this you should be fined
Reduce soil erosion/flooding ---if your practices are causing damage through flooding you should be making restorative payments?
Reducing disease spread is in your favour and does not need paying for by me
Bit more whip and less carrot is my first thought?
I’d agree about hedges. We have miles of them here as there’s three lanes running through the farm. Most now too narrow to get modern equipment up.
So for the income forgone do you see it as the output from say a good crop of osr or income equivalent to the cost of doing the option which is what some see it as.
The first I think would make it worth while, for me the second would mean I wouldn’t bother with elms
Hold on ---i thought all these things you suggested were no brainers and would increase the net worth/profitability of your land asset ? If that's the case why wouldn't you be doing it anyway without me paying you?no - i want you to pay for the natural capital and public goods i have suggested such an option can deliver
i’m not going to do it for free and don’t see why anyone else will either
We did 10 years of HLS, which worked well at the time, but I’ve turned down two mid tier offers since, as the payments were no where near as attractive and the reports of inspections holding up your BPS, coupled with late or non payments, put me off.yes, similar but not quite as good imo, the existing scheme has been a complete mess really hasn’t it - impossible to apply without a expensive agent, payment delays, competitive etc - caped maximums on such options etc
i wanted to do it but it just didn’t work for us when we tried (i wasted money trying in fact so it actually cost me!)
I have to agree with you on this. I don’t see how it will sit well with the public if we are being paid for farming in a way that is better for both the ecology and our bank balances. The whole reason I’m going down this more regenerative route is first and foremost to make more money.Hold on ---i thought all these things you suggested were no brainers and would increase the net worth/profitability of your land asset ? If that's the case why wouldn't you be doing it anyway without me paying you?
And i would argue that in many cases you should be doing by law what you are asking me to pay you for?
If you wanted paying & if I were the judge (which luckily for you i'm not) you would have to deliver much more than you are offering
I'm not convinced ----
Does you 'average man on the street' care what happens in the countryside. Does he really want to pay for more biodiversity, carbon storage, etc etc. How about more money into the NHS? Police? Education? Roads?
I was about to say give it to the nhs and let us crack on and farm however we see fit!Does you 'average man on the street' care what happens in the countryside. Does he really want to pay for more biodiversity, carbon storage, etc etc. How about more money into the NHS? Police? Education? Roads?
Just testing the water!! That is what they will be wanting from ELMs when all is said and done!No thank you!!
I want to grow houses , no govt payment is necessary .
Does you 'average man on the street' care what happens in the countryside. Does he really want to pay for more biodiversity, carbon storage, etc etc. How about more money into the NHS? Police? Education? Roads?
As long as some peasant has hacked tracks through the wilderness for dog crapping events, they'll be happy.Do they care....when asked they say they really care.
Do they want to pay...? I don’t think so.
Do they really care....the amount of littering that happens suggests for some it doesn’t really enter their mind.
Why should someone pay to plant a cover crop instead of a break crop and not get paid for it? Do you work for free???Hold on ---i thought all these things you suggested were no brainers and would increase the net worth/profitability of your land asset ? If that's the case why wouldn't you be doing it anyway without me paying you?
And i would argue that in many cases you should be doing by law what you are asking me to pay you for?
If you wanted paying & if I were the judge (which luckily for you i'm not) you would have to deliver much more than you are offering
I'm not convinced ----