A Future for Hill Farming

Sheep Grabbing a Quick Drink En Route 

to Summer Grazing

Alan Spedding has produced another excellent  Ru Briefing that summarises this report by Chloe Palmer, who is Regional Director for the Northern Region of FWAG.  The briefing can be downloaded from the excellent OpenFields website and this summary contains a link to the full report.  

I recommend at least dipping into the full report, as the report's recommendations give a useful view of the options and challenges facing the uplands.

To give you a taster, Chloe Palmer states that, "Fundamentally, those who gain advantage from the hills, have to recognise that someone needs to pay for the benefits that they bring.  Currently, the price paid for beef and lamb by consumers does not cover the cost of producing that animal, providing a decent return to the producer and delivering all the other benefits that extensive sheep and beef production brings with it."