England: Defra Uplands Policy Review

The key issues from this review can be summarised:

• A guarantee that 100% of hill farmers eligible to enter Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (UELS) - worth up to £6m
• Creation of an “Uplands Theme” to provide targeted support to upland areas
• A commitment to reduce the burden of unnecessary red tape
• A new Rural Community Broadband Fund - worth up to £20m
• consultation on whether the legislation for National Parks needs to better reflect their role in facilitating sustainable development

All good stuff but does it go far enough and will it make a difference to hill farm businesses?

The Uplands: Neglect them at our peril

If you would like to see an example of how I spend my quiet evenings at home, have a look at this article that has been published by the RICS as part of their Rural eNews service and sent to all Rural Chartered Surveyors.

As always, I would welcome any comments.  Do you think there is an adequate public awareness of the role played by the uplands in maintaining natural services and if not how can we improve matters?

England: Farming in the Uplands - EFRA Report

I mentioned the launch of the Select Committee report in my post on 17 February, but I would like to draw your attention to the extract below, taken from page 73, and the highlighted sentence.  Is this really what EFRA believes?  What about all the burning, or swaling, that takes place on the south west moors?   I would be very surprised if burning for agricultural purposes was so insignificant it could be dismissed.  I hope that this is an aberration and that our policy makers have a clear overview of how our moors are managed.  If not, I look forward to a call (and perhaps some consultancy work!).

Burning

32. Burning is used on heather moorland and acid grasslands and can be successful in promoting heather regeneration. However, if done on too wide a scale or too frequently it can negatively impact upon some species and other ecosystem services such as soil carbon storage and water quality. Burning can also favour some species to the detriment of others. It can also lead to an increase in water pollution through run-off of sediment. Burning on peatland13 has been used (mostly in Scotland) as a means of improving vegetation for sheep grazing. In England burning of peatland is almost exclusively limited to managing the moorland for grouse. Because of the complexity of burning, localised approaches drawing on sound evidence and expert advice are very important.

England: Grouse Moor Management Praised

Helen Phillips & Edward Bromet

I was pleased to attend a meeting on the Weardale Estate in Co Durham on 16 March, where the progress with the management of moorland, predominantly for grouse, in Northern England was publicly acknowledged.  It was great to hear some good news with Helen Phillips, the Chief Executive of Natural England, openly praising grouse moor management and the positive views being reciprocated by Edward Bromet, the Chairman of the Moorland Association (MA).  The MA's pivotal role in getting 98.8% of moorland in the North East Region of England into 'favourable' or 'unfavourable improving' was applauded and acknowledged.  

If you would like to know more:

• A video of interviews with John Barrett, Moorland Delivery Manager for Natural England, and Martin Gillibrand, Secretary for the Moorland Association can be viewed here. 
• The Moorland Association has published a press release with some quotes and photographs
• Some case studies have been made available to download: Bowes Moor, Howden & Derwent Moors, South Pennine Moors, Weardale Estate

This public acknowledgement of the value of grouse moor management in improving and maintaining moorland in good condition is welcome.  We need to keep reminding ourselves of the role of grouse moor management in keeping our moorlands in vibrant condition for the overall benefit from the services that well managed moorland provides.  Management for grouse is not the only way to achieve this result, but it is very significant and is self-financing.

Asulam: The loss of effective bracken control?

There has been a lot of discussion about Asulam recently.  This chemical is the active ingredient of Asulox, which is the only bracken control agent that can be applied from a helicopter, and it is up for re-registration within the EU system. 

The debate surrounding the re-registration of this product is too complex to go into in detail here, but the issue to be aware of is that there is a threat to the continued availability of Asulam for bracken control.  As the only chemical licensed for aerial application, its loss would be catastrophic.

The snappily named Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health is the EU organisation that will decide the future of Asulam.  The Committee met on 11 March and could have decided not to allow re-registration at that meeting, but due to a blocking minority on the Committee a discussion was postponed until the next meeting on 4-5 May.

Many people have made representations to Defra and into the EU.  I telephoned contacts in England, Wales & Scotland and found universal support for the continued availability of Asulam.  Prof Rob Marrs, the Trust’s President, is also the Chairman of the International Bracken Group and with Rob I produced a statement in support of Asulam that was circulated widely, and The Daily Telegraph printed a modified version of this statement in the Letters page on 14 March.  Other press coverage: Farmers Guardian, Scottish Farmer, The Scotsman, and NFUOnline.

Many people are campaigning for the continued availability of Asulam and if this is a subject as dear to your heart as it is to mine, please will you make every effort to draw attention to this issue.  Without Asulam, the ability to control bracken in the uplands will, to all intents and purposes, disappear.  Grazing area will be lost, hitting the economics of uplands farming; the landscape will suffer, as a bracken monoculture will encroach into more diverse areas; biodiversity in the uplands will be reduced and the loss of heather is likely to accelerate; with the bracken the favoured habitat for sheep ticks will expand, and with it the associated prevalence of human, livestock and bird diseases; and water quality is likely to be affected.  There is not much in favour of an expansion of bracken coverage.  As a very significant side effect of the loss of Asulam, the aerial spraying companies would go out of business, resulting in a loss of any aerial spraying capacity in the country.

Currently we are in limbo.  We have a window of opportunity to raise the profile of this issue and please will you help in whatever way possible.  If the decision goes against Asulam, the current registration would expire in September 2012, and after that we will be faced with trying to control bracken using ground based equipment, or more likely on the more difficult terrain, leaving bracken to its own devices.

Scotland: Getting the best from our land - a land use strategy

The Land Use Strategy for Scotland has been laid before parliament.  See the Moorland Forum's Blog for more details.

Wildfire 2011

Bookings are now being accepted for this event.  See the website for details. 

At the previous event, Wildfire 2009, over 150 delegates heard about the latest techniques, best practice and research relating to the prevention and suppression of wildfire in the UK and Ireland.

Wales: Heather & Grass Burning

The current Heather and grass burning season in Wales will end in upland areas on 31 March and ended elsewhere on 15 March.  Upland areas are defined as land in the Severely Disadvantaged Area or Less Favoured Area.

In Wales, there is a requirement to complete a Burning Management Plan for all proposed fires.  Information about the legal requirements and guidance on safe burning can be found in the Heather and Grass Burning Code for Wales.  A copy, together with the Burning Management Plan Template, can be downloaded from the Welsh Assembly Government’s website.


I would be very interested to hear from anyone who is burning in Wales about how they view the Heather & Grass Burning Code and the Burning Plan Template.  Is the system working well or would some changes improve the system. 

England: Defra Uplands Policy Review launched

This review was launched today and no doubt there will be much comment about this in the near future.  For the moment, I draw your attention to this important document and provide links to the key documents and the early responses from the CLA quoted by Farmer's Weekly.

For my own part, I would have liked to have seen the appointment of someone at Ministerial level to promote the needs of the uplands in the long-term.  Many of the other good ideas that came out of last year's CRC Report do not appear to have found favour.

At first sight, this review focuses on the provision of broadband, and while this is important and will be very welcome, broadband on its own will not meet the needs of the upland communities.  It is like suggesting that diversification will solve everyone's problems - so much depends on other factors.

Defra News Release
Defra website
Defra Uplands Policy Review - document
Farmer's Weekly commenting on CLA response

What do you think?  The comment facility is awaiting your words!

Do you have views about the extraction of peat for horticulture?

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen are inviting tweets on the use of peat in horticulture as part of the Department for Environment, Food and Environmental Affairs consultation on this hot topic.  The press release can be found on the University of Aberdeen website.


This seems to be a rather crazy and unnecessary past-time.  Large amounts of public and private money are being invested in blocking drains to encourage blanket bogs to become more active and lay down peat, but there is an industry ripping up precious stores of existing peat and carbon for use in gardens.  There are many less damaging alternatives which should be considered ahead of peat.

IUCN UK Peatland Programme - Conference June 2011

The Peatland Programme has announced some details of the conference that will take place in Stirling, 20-22 June 2011, with a title of 'Investing in Peatlands: Delivering Multiple Benefits'.  Details of the programme and registration will be available in early March.  Additional information is available from the Peatland Programme website.

The Scottish 'gold rush' for hydro power

See the article from BBC News.  Maybe we should be encouraging more of this type of scheme and reducing the visual impact problem (see previous post).

A report published by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) showed that the extent of Scotland unaffected by any form of visual influence declined from 31% in January 2008 to 28% in December 2009.  See The Scotsman's view.


Are we getting this right?  Will this increasing level of visual impact on upland Scotland be viewed as justified by those who follow us, or are we leaving a legacy that will be seen as a short-lived fashion, like the mini-skirt or upland drainage schemes?

England - Farming in the Uplands - Select Committee Report

The Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Committee has published their Farming in the Uplands report.  The full report can be downloaded here.  This Report builds on many of the issues highlighted by the High Ground, High Potential report published by the Commission for Rural Communities, last year.  


A key recommendation from the report is that Ministers should consider reintroducing direct payments coupled to numbers of livestock (headage payments) for hard-pressed hill farmers in the uplands.  No doubt a controversial proposal.

The report also calls on the Government to demonstrate a stronger commitment to upland communities. Having abolished the Commission for Rural Communities, the public body that advised Government on rural issues, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs must ensure that rural policies and their delivery are not neglected. To that end the cross-party MPs on the Select Committee  call on Ministers to:

·      Publish a strategy for the uplands that sets out a clear action plan with practical measures to be implemented immediately.

·      Provide strong leadership across all Government departments to make sure that rural and upland communities get a fair deal.

·      Create a statutory definition of the uplands to assist the Government in targeting policy.

·      Make sure that all farmers and rural communities can get access to development grants once RDAs have been abolished.

·      Work across Government to put in place policies that support those that live and work in the uplands, in particular rolling out super-fast broadband for remote rural communities and increasing the availability of affordable housing.

·      Put a statutory duty on National Parks to do more to encourage social and economic development.

There is a large amount of common sense in this report that I expect to receive support from most quarters.  Although it only relates directly, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland should consider the findings of this report.  I believe that the bulk of the recommendations would apply equally to all parts of the UK.

Hope in a Changing Climate

Before restoration

See the YouTube video that shows examples of the successful restoration of large-scale ecosystem damage in China and Ethiopia.  In the UK we are applying the same principles to the restoration of bogs and if the results demonstrated in China and Ethiopia can be mirrored here our restored bogs will be special indeed.

After restoration

End of an Era

Alison Young finished working for the Trust, yesterday, after enduring my sense of humour, and the trials and tribulations that I caused for seven and a half years.  She will be known to many people through her organisation of the many events up and down the country, on the way earning her title as my 'Insistent'.  I am enormously grateful for all that Alison did for the Trust and wish her every happiness in her new life.

The hunt is on to replace the irreplaceable.

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." 

Country Market & Sporting Sale

We are in the final stages of collecting Lots, donations and advertisements for this year's Sale.  Can you help in any way to provide us with the funding to stay active?  More details

The catalogue will be published by the end of March and the Sale closes to Bids at 12 noon on Friday, 6 May.

Dartmoor: Mires Project launched

A five year pilot project to restore areas of internationally important blanket bog on Dartmoor has begun.

The Dartmoor Mires Project will assess pilot areas totalling 120 hectares, with a view to restoring high-quality blanket bog, using innovative low impact techniques. This work will achieve benefits for upland wildlife, improve water provision and increase the potential of Dartmoor’s blanket bog to store carbon and hence to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The project will respect the area’s importance as a grazed landscape, its recreational and military use and its historic significance.

The project is a partnership led by Dartmoor National Park Authority and funded substantially by South West Water under its Mires on the Moors Project, with contributions from other project partners.  The Mires on the Moors Project has already provided benefit on Exmoor where 326 hectares of moorland have been restored to date. On Dartmoor, the project will be spending £9.1 million on managing water quality and quantity before it reaches reservoirs and water treatment works.

Visit the Dartmoor National Park website for more information.

England & Wales: Hydropower

Six-fold increase in the number of schemes.  See The Environment Agency's news item for more details.