One of the themes of the Oxford Farming Conference was 'more for less' (an interesting phrase which can mean an awful lot of things) or 'sustainable intensification' (an ill-defined but useful starting point).
The Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman, has been talking up the fact that HLS funding is increasing by 80% over the next few years, at this time of tight money, and that ELS funding is remaining the same. We welcome both of these things - they are crucial for the future recovery of farmland bird species. They also represent a vote of confidence in our farmers. Many farmers at Oxford thanked RSPB staff for the role we played, and the NFU and CLA did not, in arguing for the safe-guarding and expansion of these funds.
The RSPB also welcomes the fact that ELS is being reviewed. This scheme, which is basically the source of our great success at Hope Farm - where farmland birds have increased dramatically over the last decade in utter contrast to the surrounding countryside - could provide more for the same amount of money with just a little tweaking. Defra is looking at what tweaks are possible. This is very important - if done well then the recovery of farmland birds is almost guaranteed.
Let's hope that Defra do this well. Actually, we won't leave it to hope, we'll be pointing out what needs to be done.
It's just occurred to me - I heard rather little of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment at Oxford.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Having worked on these schemes I feel one of the major problems lies with the fact land agents have captured the majority of the market. The problem there is that they do not have the experience to see a potential and only come in for the money. Other examples include the finance going direct to the owner of the land not to the tenant farmer. This is especial true in the uplands where Red Grouse take priority and not other species. Examples have including destroying Black Grouse, Curlew, Lapwing, Skylark and Twite habitat to increase Red Grouse. Both the Old DEFRA and Natural England staff do not seem to know how to stop this from happening.