Eurasian skylark, Alauda arvensis, adult foraging (C) Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Today’s blog is written by Alice Groom, Senior Policy Officer on the policy implications of a new piece of research demonstrating levels of agri-environment scheme provision needed to recover farmland birds
A new ground-breaking study shows the scale of agri-environment scheme provision required at both the farm and landscape-scales, to reverse declines in farmland birds such as starling and skylark.
Over the past forty years agri-environment schemes (AES) have become the primary policy mechanism for addressing declines in farmland biodiversity in the UK and across Europe. These schemes have achieved notable successes such as the recovery of cirl bunting, stone curlew and marsh fritillary butterfly in England. However, they have yet to halt and reverse the decline in wider farmland biodiversity.
A new piece of research helps to demonstrate why....
Over a ten-year period, the study monitored the responses of farmland bird populations (23 species and 3 multi species groups) to various levels of agri -environment scheme provision in three different landscapes, East Anglia (primarily arable), West Midland (primarily pastoral) and the Cotswolds (mixed farming). The study looked specifically at the provision of bird friendly options that provide seed-rich habitat for winter foraging, insect-rich habitat for chick food, and infield nesting habitat for ground nesting species (e.g., Lapwing).
Levels of provision monitored:
- No agri-environment provision: 0% under bird friendly options.
- Lower tier: <4% of the farm managed under bird friendly options, with no advice or targeting.
- Higher Tier: Average of 11% of the farm managed under bird friendly options, with those options carefully targeted with bespoke farm advice. Higher-tier agreements were also targeted to localities known to support multiple priority farmland bird species.
Without delving into the detail, which you can find here, this study reveals ideal farm and landscape provision levels that agri environment schemes need to achieve to recover farmland biodiversity:
- Farm scale: To increase the abundance of most farmland birds 10% of the farm area needs to be managed under ‘higher-tier’ nature friendly options, which are carefully targeted and supported by advice. Although lower-tier levels (<4%) of provision generally failed to enhance abundance, it helped to mitigate ongoing declines for some species.
- Landscape scale: The study suggests that the proportion of the farmed landscape that needs to be subjected to higher-tier style agreements varies regionally. For example, the study suggests that at least c31% of farms in arable East Anglia, need to manage 10% for nature. To date no agri-environment scheme in the UK has achieved this landscape level of provision.
This research has landed as Governments from the four UK countries develop new agricultural policies to replace the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. This provides a critical opportunity to design schemes that are sufficiently effective and ambitious to achieve the levels of provision needed to recover farmland wildlife.
Both the Welsh and Westminster Governments have committed to focus the agricultural budget on rewarding nature friendly farming. However, only the Welsh Government’s proposals make managing 10% of a farm for nature a universal component of its new Sustainable Farming Scheme. Defra has yet to set out how they will ensure the three new Environmental Land Management schemes (ELM) will contribute to the new legally binding targets to halt the loss of species abundance by 2030 and reverse loss by 2042.
The RSPB believes that managing 10% for nature is something all farmers should be rewarded to do. However, this study suggests that at least 30% of lowland farmland needs to be under a ‘higher tier’ scheme to recover widespread farmland birds. The research suggests that the rarest and most range restricted species such as Turtle Dove, are likely to require additional bespoke and more highly targeted interventions.
But what about food security?
A healthy natural environment is not opposed to food production but a precondition for it.
A growing body of evidence and farmer experience shows that nature friendly farming can boost profitability and even help maintain and, in some instances, boost yields. This is because wildlife habitats can deliver a range of ecosystem services such as improved pollination and pest control and enable farmers to access funding on previously unprofitable areas of the farm such as awkward field corners and headlands. Environmental management can also help to reduce costs, for example by helping to reduce the need for pesticides and inorganic fertiliser and matching stocking densities to the carrying capacity of the land.
In addition, a recent UK Government report into food security concluded that climate change, the loss of biodiversity and depletion of soils pose the greatest threat to domestic food security. Nature friendly farming provides a critical solution enabling us to produce enough healthy food whilst recovering nature and helping to adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Agri environment schemes have proven a useful tool over the last forty years, but if we are to recover nature, they need to be more ambitious, more effective, and better funded.
This is the challenge for Governments across the UK if their new schemes are to match their rhetoric.