BRITAIN’S farmers are facing a watershed. As the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), which has provided a financial cushion and prevented many from going bust, plummets on a sliding scale to zero in 2028, food producers and guardians of this green and pleasant land are being encouraged (or cajoled) to put environmental improvements firmly on their agendas (many already do). Farmers who have never previously let hedgerows run riot to provide habitat for nesting birds, beetles, butterflies and dormice will be keeping their hedge cutters parked up; instead of planting crops to within inches of those hedges, they may now decide to make them butt up to several yards of wild field margin, perhaps composed of uncut tussocky grass that offers a home to bank voles, shrews and field mice.
They will be financially compensated for such enhancement ‘actions’, as the Government’s complex Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMS) step into the financial void left by the diminishing BPS. However, until January this year, ELMS was significantly light on detail. Defra then ‘put meat on the bones’, to quote Farming Minister Mark Spencer, accelerated the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a key part of ELMS, and announced six additional standards, plus 30 new actions within an enhanced Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme to add to the 250 already available.
So far, however, take up has been meagre. Out of the 80,000–100,000 farmers claiming BPS, by January 30, only 2,353 applications had been submitted for the SFI and 1,962 agreements had started. Some 30,000 farmers are in CS, according to the NFU. Despite this sluggish beginning, the Government has outlined in its new Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) that it expects up to 80% of farmers to use Nature-friendly practices on 10% –15% of their land by 2030.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 01, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 01, 2023 من Country Life UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
