Conservation &
Land Management
Farmers are keen to do more environmental work – but need more clarity.
Confidence needed to build faith in environmental land management
• More clarity needed on ELM scheme • Farmers keen to improve environment • Concern over farm business profi tabilty
F
armers are keen to do more to protect and en- hance the environment
– but have concerns about the government’s forthcoming En- vironmental Land Management (ELM) scheme. More clarity is needed about the shift away from Basic Pay- ments to the new system of farm support under ELMs, reveals a survey carried out by the Coun- try Land & Business Association (CLA) and Strutt & Parker. Some 80% of respondents were concerned about losses in biodiversity. The same percent- age agreed with the idea of pay-
ing land managers for the “public goods” of looking after the envi- ronment and helping to mitigate climate change.
Higher priority
More than half reported they were already taking action to re- duce greenhouse gas emissions and 64% said a sense of person- al responsibility would motivate them to make climate change a higher priority in terms of man- aging their land and property. Four out of fi ve respondents said they were either likely or very likely to join ELMS, or an equivalent scheme, when it be-
comes fully available in 2024. But many farmers said more clarity was needed about how the scheme will work.
CLA president Mark Bridge- man said: “It’s very encouraging to see that mitigating climate change and reversing biodiver- sity decline is at the top of many farming businesses’ priority list.” It was also encouraging farm- ers were keen to take part in the government’s new ELMS scheme, added Mr Bridgeman. “The pub- lic can see the impact of biodiver- sity loss and climate change and understandably they expect us to act.
Uniquely placed “As stewards of the countryside, we are uniquely placed to deliver meaningful programmes that will drive environmental recovery, and we are determined to play our part in meeting the challenges ahead.” Farmers said they were likely to sign up to measures support- ing pollinators by increasing pol- len and nectar sources (78%), providing seed habitats to sup- port woodland birds over winter (73%) and tree planting to absorb carbon (57%).
But there were lower levels of support for options such as grow-
“
We are determined to help meet the challenges ahead
ing energy crops (25%) or planting trees to slow fl ood waters (35%). Respondents also signalled that they did have concerns about how ELMS will operate. Mr Bridgeman said: “These results do show, however, some trends that will concern govern- ment, whose optimism for the move towards ‘public money for public goods’ is clearly not shared by all farmers.
Land management
“The CLA believes ELMs has the potential to be a world-lead- ing land management policy, but there are clear risks associat- ed with transitioning from the old system to the new. Ministers should consider these fi ndings carefully.” James Farrell, head of ru- ral at Strutt & Parker, said it was important to understand what farmers were feeling about ELMs because they had a vital role to play in reducing the UK’s green- house gas emissions to Net Zero by 2050.
continued on page 30 DECEMBER 2020 • MIDLAND FARMER 29
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