FWAG relaunched in England

Following its demise in October, last year, FWAG has been relaunched in England as the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group Association to provide a habitat advisory service to farmers.  The relaunch has been facilitated by GWCT and supported by LEAF.  See the article in the Farmers Guardian.

FWAG Cymru is also operating as an independent organisation but there has been no sign of rebirth in Scotland.

New National Centre for the Uplands launched

Photo: FWi

Congratulations to Julia Aglionby on her appointment as Director of the new National Centre for the Uplands, based at Newton Rigg College in Penrith.  See the Farmer's Weekly article for more detail.

The objectives set for the college include:

• undertaking and publishing research into hill farming and land management
• demonstration for research and training
• running training programmes
• organising events to stimulate discussion

These objectives will sound very familiar to supporters of The Heather Trust - they are very similar to ours, and as a result I have offered support for the programme of work at the new Centre.  It may be helpful to use the HT networks to spread the word about the Centre's activities throughout the UK.

CAP reform package delayed until 2015

Photo: FWi

It has been confirmed that CAP reform will not come into effect until 1 January 2015.  See the announcement in Farmers Weekly.

NFU president Peter Kendall has said that putting implementation back a year adds "a massive area of uncertainty that needs to be addressed going forward".  I fear that this is likely to be an understatement.