Lynx and sheep

Photo: Farmers Guardian

It is claimed that the escaped 'pet' Lynx in Wales has killed seven sheep.  Have a look at the Farmers Guardian article and see what you think.  Is it appropriate to risk more of this in our uplands? 

I believe that sheep play a vital role to play in our uplands in terms of generating income to keep farmers on the land and for managing the habitat.  We do not need further challenges to this management.

Farmers' Letter to Santa

When sitting in front of the fire nursing a full stomach and hopefully a full glass, reflecting on an interesting 2016 and where the heck 2017 is likely to take us, I recommend a read of Alan Spedding's Farmer's Letter to Santa.  As he says, it is a long list, but I did not find any of the requests unreasonable.

The challenge might be how to prioritise the items on the list with Santa, as his sleigh is unlikely to be big enough to deliver all these requests in one go.

Another challenge will be to identify what Alan might have missed, especially in an uplands context.  In the festive spirit of peace and goodwill, a bit less conflict and some willingness to cooperate would be a good place to start.  Who knows, if this idea caught on, collectively we might be able to achieve a lot more for our uplands and that would really make this a good Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

The Graze the Moor Project - Molland Moor, Exmoor

Allan Butler, Richard Langdon (farmer), Dave Barrow (Moorkeeper)
and Janet Dwyer at Luckworthy Farm

I had an away-day to Exmoor, yesterday.  It is a bit of a challenge from Dumfries but with trains and the sleeper running sweetly, it is not a problem.

The Graze the Moor project is a partnership project with the main players being The Molland Estate, the Exmoor National Park Authority, and Natural England. As Project Manager I am responsible for the delivery of the project plan and the inevitable bureaucracy that surrounds such a project.  funding is being provided by Exmoor NPA, through their Partnership Fund with contributions from the other partners included The Heather Trust.  The project is running for five years and the second year was completed at the end of March.

A new recruit - 'Juggernaut'
a former native of Dumfries-shire

The purpose of yesterday's visit was to introduce Prof Janet Dwyer, from the University of Gloucestershire and Dr Allan Butler from the Royal Agricultural University to the project as I have invited them to provide some input to the economic comparison that is part of the project and to consider how to carry out the external evaluation of the project in its final year.  

The economic comparison seeks to identify the difference in income and expenditure between farms that graze the moor with hill livestock and those that have different breeds but keep them on in-bye land or in buildings. It is not a straightforward exercise and I am hoping that the challenge will be accepted.

A Scottish Demonstration Farm for GWCT

Auchnerran Farm.  Photo: GWCT

In a recent article on their website, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust provided the background to this new development:

"Having a demonstration farm in Scotland has been a GWCT objective for ten years. Demonstration is at the heart of the GWCT’s Allerton Project at Loddington in Leicestershire. Over 20 years this has become a showpiece for our farmland research, demonstrating that good arable farming and game shooting management sustain wildlife and countryside income."

The inclusion of upland and lowland within the farm makes this development of particular interest to the Heather Trust.  I like to avoid placing boundaries around different land types and separating upland from lowland issues is often unhelpful; much farm stock is moved between the two areas and wildlife moves freely up and down the hill.  Therefore, being able to demonstrate how game management and farming work side by side in lowland and upland areas will be very valuable.

An early fund raising target is £5,000 to cover tick treatment for the sheep flock for 12 months.  A JustGiving webpage has been set up to receive donations, which can be made anonymously if desired. 

Molland Moor, Exmoor - Winner of the Samuel Foss Conservation Award

Baroness Ann Mallalieu (left) and Mrs Christina Williams (right)
(Photo: Western Morning News)

The Western Morning News has reported on the presentation of The Exmoor Society's 2015 Samuel Foss Conservation Award to Molland Moor.  See the full article.

Baroness Ann Mallalieu, the Vice President of The Exmoor Society presented the award to Mrs Christina Williams, the owner of Molland Moor.

The article commented on how Christina William’s "drive and commitment to a five-year project called “Graze the Moor”, set up with the Molland Estate, the Heather Trust and other partners, has been able to monitor the impact of changes to the grazing regime, including the introduction of winter grazing by cattle. The hope is that, through the experiment, winter grazing will begin a long-awaited fight-back against the explosion of gorse, bracken and Molinia grass that is threatening the moor’s character."

I have had some involvement with the management of Molland Moor since the Trust ran a demonstration project there 2002-2006.  I am now the project manager for the 'Graze the Moor' project, and I am delighted that Christina William's dedication to the management of the moor has been recognised in this way.

Graze the Moor Project Meeting - Molland, Exmoor - 16 Sep 15

Cattle on Molland Moor - 16 Sep 15

I ran the annual stakeholder event for this project on Molland Moor, on the south side of Exmoor, yesterday.

The project seeks to monitor the impact of changes to the grazing regime, that includes the re-introduction of winter grazing on the moor by cattle.  The aim is to improve the moor while at the same time providing income for the farm businesses that use the moor.  The project is acting as a focus for a lot of activity and this includes an annual stakeholder meeting to report on the progress of the project.

A new feature of the project in the last 12 months is the development of a Molinia Control Trial.  This seeks to identify the best way to move from Molinia dominance to a more mixed cover of vegetation.  One of the techniques being tested is the spray-burn-reseed approach that was developed by Geoff Eyre in the Peak District. This trial has only just started and we will report on developments as the work progresses.

We attracted a total of 33 delegates to the meeting yesterday, and in true Heather Trust style, it was good to see a large number of different interest groups represented at the meeting.

Full team photo - Molland Moor, 16 Sep 15

Workshop: What’s up in the Uplands? Delivering Food & Ecosystem Services

Kirkton & Auchtertyre Research Farm, Crianlarich

The Challenge

What can be done to ensure the economic viability of upland farms so that they can continue to produce quality, sustainable food while delivering ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, flood regulation and maintaining biodiversity? Upland farmers today face pressures including changes to markets, support policies and the climate they are operating in. What should they be aware of ecologically and economically? What current practices could be reviewed and altered to address the pressures? How can upland farmers take advantage of the opportunities presented by an increasing focus on payments for ecosystem services?

Organisers

Scotland’s Rural College, Aberystwyth and Bangor Universities lead the UK in developing and demonstrating best practice in upland livestock production systems. These organisations have come together to run a two-day training workshop on What’s up in the Uplands? Delivering Food Ecosystem Services at SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre, based at Kirkton & Auchtertyre upland research farms near Crianlarich, on 3rd and 4th September 2015. 

Focus

The workshop is particularly focused on upland farming systems and is relevant not only to farmers and their agricultural advisors but also to all those involved with regulating the farming industry or developing agri-environment measures. All of these target audiences need to be aware of and understand the challenges and opportunities facing upland farming systems if such systems are to be economically viable and continue to provide ecosystem service benefits to wider society.

Content

The workshop will explore the environmental, social and economic viability of alternative upland farming systems in the UK, and will discuss challenges and opportunities associated with managing soil, moorlands, natural and cultivated grasslands, sheep and cattle in upland situations.

Leading specialists in their field from SRUC and Bangor will work with workshop attendees to enable them to learn, and discuss in detail, about: how uplands play a key role in providing a wide range of valuable ecosystem services; where greenhouse gas emissions come from on upland farms and how they can be reduced; how upland farmers have an important role to play in carbon sequestration and peatland restoration; how recent research advances can help improve the technical efficiency and economic viability of upland farming; the pros and cons associated heather burning; and how challenges and issues facing upland farms in the Scottish Highlands are relevant to upland farming systems across the UK. 

The workshop will also incorporate a visit to SRUC’s Kirkton & Auchtertyre Farms, to see the range of agricultural and environmental issues being addressed on the farms.

ATP & CPD

The workshop has been organised as part of an Advanced Training Partnership (ATP) in Sustainable and Efficient Food Production run by Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, NIAB TAG and BBSRC. The workshop will serve attendees either as a certified stand-alone Continual Professional Development (CPD) event or as an introduction to two ATP postgraduate distance learning modules on Upland Farming Systems and Ecosystem Services. 

Costs

The full fee for attendance at the workshop is £270. However, if an attendee is employed full time within the UK agri-food sector then then may qualify to receive a bursary to reduce the cost of attendance. Examples of sectors which qualify are: supermarket supply chain advisors, farmers and farm managers, agri-supplies, vets, agri-environmental advisors, agricultural consultants. We regret that those employed in publicly funded posts do NOT qualify for bursaries. Bursaries are awarded at the time of invoicing on a first-come-first-served basis.

More detail

Full details of the workshop, how to register and how to apply for bursaries can be found at the workshop's webpage. Email: atp-enquiries@aber.ac.uk and telephone: 01970 823 224

Northern Ireland: Heather Burning & Bracken Control II

Good to see that the interest in bracken control and prescribed burning in Northern Ireland that was in evidence in the meeting last month was repeated at a second event. See the report in Farming Life.

The active involvement of the NI Fire & Rescue Service in these discussions is encouraging. Prescribed burning should be seen as a way to reduce the risk of damage from wildfire and therefore reducing the NIFRS' exposure to wildfire.

I am pleased to have been invited to help with a wildfire event in Northern Ireland, next month, and I look forward to working with NIFRS. I will put more details on the Blog, in due course.

Upland farmers face biggest shake up in a generation

Photo: Yorkshire Post

See the article in The Yorkshire Post that describes the stark choices facing upland farmers as incomes are expected to dip when the new EU payments (including the agri-environment scheme, to be called Countryside Stewardship) come into effect.

The importance of grazing management in our uplands cannot be over-emphasised, but farmers need to be able to make a living from these areas if they are to stay in business and manage the uplands the way that they know best.

Northern Ireland: Heather Burning & Bracken Control

The DAB Farmers Group and the Ulster Farmers Union organised a meeting to discuss heather burning and bracken control, both key topics for hill farmers, with speakers from NI Fire Service and the NI Environment Agency.  The NIEA commented on the bracken control trails, a comparison of the effectiveness of different control techniques, that I visited last November.

The good turnout for a meeting to discuss these two issues, which are at the core of the Trust's work, is encouraging.  I hope to be invited back to NI, this year, to provide some input that will draw on our experience of working elsewhere.

See the full report in Farming Life.

Wales: Fairness for the Uplands - now an official group

Fairness for the Uplands (F4U) was established last year as a campaigning group to oppose low moorland payments proposed by Welsh ministers as part of the new Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

In December, last year, the self-funded group won a legal victory over the Welsh Government which forced ministers back to the BPS drawing board.  See the full article in The Daily Post, which has links to related stories.

F4U aims to support upland farmers in Wales who feel “under-represented by existing farming groups" and it has now been formed as an official group and wants to carry on representing hill farmers on a variety of upland and rural issues.

Uplands Farming Conference - Skipton - 5 February 2015

Photo: The Journal

The NFU and EBLEX are joining forces to stage the first Northern Uplands Conference. 

The half-day event, sponsored by HSBC, is being organised against the backdrop of shrinking budgets for both pillars of the Common Agricultural Policy, affecting direct payments and agri-environment programmes.

For more details, see the full report in The Journal.

Farmland birds need YOU to show they count

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is urging all farmers and gamekeepers to take part in the first annual Big Farmland Bird Count. 

The organisation wants to determine how the UK’s farmland bird species are faring and to highlight the success of the conservation practices that farmers and gamekeepers putting in place.

The GWCT website has more detail.

New uplands academy offers support to next generation

I was pleased to learn about this new academy that aims to develop the next generation of upland farmers.  See the article in the Darlington & Stockton Times.

We need farmers to provide the management we all aspire to for the uplands. Without farming input upland habitats would quickly degenerate and all the infrastructure that we take for granted, walls/ dykes, paths, fences, gates would disappear.  To provide emphasis on the important role that stock have in shaping our uplands, I am fond of saying that the ultimate manager of moorland usually goes 'baa' or 'moo'.

The article includes a quote from Julia Aglionby, Director of the National Centre for the Uplands.  We are supporting the work of the Centre and the Trust's Annual Report, which will be published next week, includes an article about the Centre and a project (Better Outcomes for Upland Commons) that the Trust is contributing to.

England: Hill farmers receive more than £2m in Uplands payments

In some good news for upland farmers in England, the Rural Payments Agency has said it paid out more than £2m to beef and sheep farmers eligible for Uplands Transitional Payments within three weeks of the payments starting.

The Uplands Transitional Payment (UTP) provides support to beef and sheep producers in England’s Severely Disadvantaged Areas (SDA) who are managing land in an Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) and/or Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) agreement and previously claimed Hill Farm Allowance (HFA).

The Uplands Transitional Payment is made to Hill Farm Allowance claimants in 2010 who cannot yet enter the replacement scheme, Uplands Entry Level Stewardship because of an existing agreement under the Environmentally Sensitive Areas and/or Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Up to Wednesday 27 March, the government agency said it had made payments to 925 farmers. This is equivalent to 73% of those eligible for money and more than 67% of the total value of the scheme being paid.  

This appears to be impressive, but should the RPA be satisfied with 73% in three weeks?  How long will it take to pay the remainder?

Better Outcomes on Upland Commons

Photo: National Centre for the Uplands

I was pleased to have been invited to support a new initiative covering Upland Commons, that has been established following concerns raised by HRH The Prince of Wales.




The recently established National Centre for the Uplands, which is based at Newton Rigg College in Penrith, has established a partnership of organisations to provide input to the work.  The main focus of the initiative will be to establish how best to combine the many and various interests in upland commons. The work will  include a consideration of: the practical and business needs of farmers (for example in sheep stocking levels), improvements to water retention and quality, maintenance of the cultural landscape and how to accommodate public access.

I was present at a launch meeting in Sedbergh, yesterday, that Prince Charles attended, and there was a good discussion amongst the organisations represented at the meeting about how the initiative can best achieve its objectives.

This work plays very much to The Heather Trust's agenda of seeking to develop cross-sector consensus to improve the management of moorland and upland areas, while embracing the views of a large range of organisations that have potentially conflicting requirements. However, as we have found in many other projects, to allow progress to be made all views must be respected and areas of agreement identified.  I am sure we will find that it will be possible to reach agreement on about 90% of the issues, but it will be important not to let the remaining 10% derail progress.

The initiative will be considering case studies from a range of upland commons across England looking for a range of aspirations, circumstances, problems and existing progress. I think it will be interesting to look at places where partnership working has been established, and compare this with areas where this has yet to be achieved. The work I co-ordinated for Scotland's Moorland Forum for the Upland Solutions project has similarities and it is possible that the report from this work, which was published in June 2011, will be considered as part of this initiative.  I think the approach of identifying barriers to progress could be a relevant approach for the case studies.

England & Wales: Farming Delivers for the hills and uplands

I recommend this publication to anyone interested in upland farming.  The publication can be found on the NFU website and it was launched by the NFU at their conference earlier this year.  It has been produced by and for hill farmers in the uplands of England and Wales and it provides a useful summary of the invaluable role played by agriculture in managing our uplands:

• for the production of food, 
• for economic benefit, 
• for the community and heritage, 
• for the environment, and 
• for climate and energy.

Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) regulations

It may just be a sign of a sheltered life, but the Environmental Impact Assessment (Agriculture) regulations are not at the front of my consciousness.  As they could have some bite, I suggest that you pause for a few moments to consider them.

The regulations cover two different types of project:

• Projects on uncultivated land, or semi-natural areas that increase its productivity for agriculture.
• The types of work covered will include: 
• increasing levels of fertiliser or soil improvers 
• sowing seed 
• physically cultivating the soil (by ploughing, tine harrowing, rotovating etc) 
• draining land 
• clearing existing vegetation either physically or using herbicides.

• Projects that physically restructure rural land holdings. This includes: 
• the addition or removal of field boundaries 
• recontouring the land through addition, removal or redistribution of earth or other material.

There are parallel regulations in all parts of the UK and before beginning any proposed work consideration must be given to whether it constitutes either an uncultivated land project or a rural restructuring project.   In both cases, you will need to apply to national authorities for a screening decision. 

There is a 35-day decision period for the authority to consider whether the project can proceed or will require consent. Consent will be necessary only if it is believed that the project is likely to have significant effects on the environment.

Inevitably, there is no shortage of bedtime reading on websites.  This is the link to the Natural England website, and there are links to the related information for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland at the bottom of the page.

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.