A heavy cold has slowed me down this week, so it has taken me a little time to respond to all the news emerging from the Conservative Party Conference.
As the legislative process for Brexit became clearer, more certainty emerged regarding the future funding for wildlife friendly farming (provided by agri environment schemes). Thanks to an announcement this week by the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, we now know that that agreements signed at any point before we leave the EU will be honoured by the UK Government (provided they meet certain conditions such as demonstrating that they are in line with UK Government priorities and provide value for money for the taxpayer).
This is good news for wildlife as agri-environment schemes provide a lifeline for many threatened species and are driving the restoration of habitats. It is also good news for farmers that have changed their farming practice to protect and enhance and the environment.
Yellow wagtail is one of the species that has recolonised the RSPB's Hope Farm since we acquired it in 2000. The success is due to habitat management supported by agri-environment schemes (Andy Hay, rspb-images.com)
Agriculture in the UK is a devolved issue – so it will be for the governments in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast to decide whether to follow suit and provide continued support. However, the UK Government has committed to ensure that where devolved administrations sign up to projects under their existing EU budgets prior to our departure from the EU, the UK Government will provide funding to support these schemes even after we have left the EU.
[As an aside, and relevant to my second blog of the day, it's worth noting that agri-environment funds are not the only EU funds that play a crucial role in delivering sustainable development. Other 'Structural Funds' such as the European Regional Development Fund have helped to reinvigorate sluggish local economies by breathing new life into the natural environment, attracting people and jobs – including to some of our most iconic reserves such as Minsmere, Titchwell and Rainham Marshes. Projects funded by EU Structural Funds are often great examples of truly sustainable development and cross-sector collaboration, and it's crucial that the UK continues to benefit from this type of funding.]
I gather from colleagues that the Conservative Party fringe event we hosted alongside the Wildlife Trusts and WWF went well, with Defra Secretary of State Andrea Leadsom reiterating her commitment to leaving the environment in a better state than it is now, and speaking enthusiastically about the importance of nature to people’s lives. It seems the Defra mood music is very much about supporting farmers for the public benefits they provide not the amount of land they own (which should benefit the farmers who do the most for wildlife); and helping farmers manage risk and create more financially sustainable businesses.
Judging by snippets I received from some of the other fringe events, there seems to be considerable nervousness in the farming community about the reality of free trade with places like Australia and South America, who can produce sheep and sugar much more cheaply than the UK; and also about the possible loss of tariff-free access to the European markets (which must worry dairy farmers). Clearly a key issue for the RSPB and the many farmers we work with is ensuring that the support farmers get for environmental purposes is not bartered away as part of any trade negotiation whilst also making sure that we don’t just end up importing food from places where it is grown at the expense of the environment.
Yet, it was depressing to see that the NFU was recently reported as claiming that it would “defeat environmentalist arguments that policymakers should push farmers to become stewards of the land rather than food producers”. As I wrote on Saturday, I think this is false choice. In this brave new Brexit world, the best hope for the farmed environment must be for new policy that makes it easy for farmers to be both good stewards and good producers.
So far so good but it is still early days, I think this would be my comment on the Government's pronouncements to date on wildlife friendly farming.
However what a great shame that the NFU is still,it appears, putting forward reactionary and antideluvian comments regarding conserving wildlife and biodiversity. Why can't they try to work with the pro-environment organisations in a spirt of cooperation? However it seems this is too much to ask of them despite the fact that it has been proved so many times, especially at Hope Farm, that it is quite compatible to have good crop yields AND good wildlife on a farm.at the same time.