New information about local nature recovery and landscape recovery

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Can anyone explain how the drive towards abandonment of the countryside AKA "rewilding" will mesh with the Weeds Act of 1959? Due to a family dispute a farm local to me as left unworked for a couple of years and very quickly became covered with ragwort, thistles and docks causing major problems to neighbours who were trying to keep their fields clean
And guess who often enforces said Act....

Our old friends at Natural England... :unsure:
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
I think this sums up the current dilemma for all land managers in England and regardless of options or whether you are a landlord or tenant.. None of us can make the right business investment plan with so little knowledge...
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
I personally demand and expect the Civil Service to deliver these promises and not to allow current minister to FOB us off...
 

Jonp

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Gwent
From the last paragraph:

A spokeswoman for Defra said the government was committed to providing £3bn a year to farmers, followed by a longer transition period to allow them to adjust.

If a third goes to LR, 3bn is not going to go to food producing farmers is it?
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
From the last paragraph:

A spokeswoman for Defra said the government was committed to providing £3bn a year to farmers, followed by a longer transition period to allow them to adjust.

If a third goes to LR, 3bn is not going to go to food producing farmers is it?
 

onthehoof

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cambs
@Janet Hughes Defra
This whole term 'Landscape Recovery' really bugs me, Defra is implying that the landscape in the UK is broken
We live in the most beautiful and diverse country in the world, from the patchwork of fields with hedgerows or dry stone walls interspersed with woodlands and copses, from the mountains and rolling hills to the beauty of the flat landscape of the Fens with its big skies and drainage ditches, many thousands of tourists come here just to marvel at the landscape and history which didn't get like it by accident but because of farmers who created it by doing what they do best - farming it!
So please Janet can you explain which part of the landscape is actually broken and needs fixing, I sincerely hopeyou and Defra haven't pandered to the likes of the RSPB and are now intent on covering this beautiful landscape with brambles, nettles and ragwort
 

renewablejohn

Member
Location
lancs
Admitted last night on the news in respect of signing off HS2 Manchester section which they want to put on stilts whereas Manchester wants to put it underground so they can build on top of it. "HS2" will provide a green corridor through the countryside. Well we now know its the farmers who will pay for it not only in loss of land but by the sounds of it also one third of the annual farm budget.
 

britishblue

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Scottish Borders
Completely agree Onthehoof. What is it they want to recover exactly. Maybe a few arable farms lacking in fertility but most will sort that themselves if they want decent yields. Complete and utter Gov madness.
 
Well that would mean the down stream farmer can not ruin the river and flood his land as he will be breaking the law.

So will you be putting this info next to the option? To let the farmer know the risk he runs flooding his land? I am sure if you pay a farmer to do it and you are aware of the law and they are not and you did not tell them then their maybe a case against defra.

How about the tree example then?
A wood is planted on a slope with defra grant that then shades out large area of the neighbours land?
Reduced yields and late ripening on the shaded land.
Compensation for the shaded farmer?
I can't see that government would have a role in the shaded farmer scenario, or in advising farmers on their legal rights or responsibilities in general - but if it's a wider point about providing clear guidance alongside schemes then yes, we're working on that in partnership with farmers and will design the guidance to work best for farmers
 
@Janet Hughes Defra

Have you released details of the profile of the new SFI claimants?
We published some information about the applicants here, yes: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2021/10/15/update-on-the-sustainable-farming-incentive-pilot/ - we'll update this once we've finished working though all the applications with the applicants, which we have almost now done but not quite finished.

would you agree that the RPA were unsuccessful in the original rollout of the SPS scheme in 2005?
I wasn't there at the time but I'm well aware there were problems and lessons to be learned, yes.
would you agree that the SPS scheme was relatively straightforward in comparison to the proposed scheme?

What proportion of the SPS or even current BPS is passed to the RPA? And what proportion will be passed to administer the new schemes?
The farming budget is not for administration, it is for payments out - RPA administration is funded separately. There is a small technical assistance pot which is about 1% of the total and is used for development and delivery of schemes.
Are the impact assessments for the new ELMS available online?
We published a detailed evidence compendium in September 2019, and we used that as the basis for deciding to do the agricultural transition over 7 years to allow farmers time to plan. We will be publishing an update to this analysis shortly. https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...nvironment-evidence-compendium-latest-edition
 
Ok your scaring me now.
https://cieem.net/ne-biodiversity-credits-scheme/

first carbon credits, how have they any value?
Unless a farm is carbon negative and actively locking up carbon in a long term and ongoing way, (trees) how is there anything to sell, If I took an option to increase soil carbon levels, and I did so for a few years after calculating my farm is net zero before that then maybe I can lock some carbon at some point that will max out how is that able to be sold in any meaningful way? Why would any environmentally goal driven person or agency encourage their sale. The fact that if DEFRA see field options as carbon capture, that then are worth credits, is scary.
There is no long term extra income from locking up carbon in in crop actions after a point carbon maxes out and you have nothing to sell.

these bio credits again a joke, I put some bio diversity in, sell the credits. what the scheme says it’s a developer buying credits to offset bio lost from development, who polices this stuff if I rip the bio diversity out do I hand the money back? If the developer wants to pay an annual fee, so I maintain it long term, and cope with the long term loss of income, what happens when the developer goes bust or stops paying?

Where is the bio diversity then, as basically I then look to sell it to someone else, and the loss of bio D the first company payed for is just lost, at best this is just a new form of green washing. . .
I agree this is a complex and important set of issues - there are colleagues of mine in Defra working on these questions as part of Defra's work on carbon markets, including looking at how to verify emissions reductions and verify that they're permanent / long term. Also on on biodiversity net gain.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

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

    Votes: 5 2.7%

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

  • 1,286
  • 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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