Natural England - Agri-environment report
Agri-environment report
3 November 2009
Future of agri-environment schemes report, Westminster, delivered by Helen Phillips
We are here today to launch our report on agri-environment schemes in England and to recognise the achievements of the tens of thousands of farmers who have taken part in them over the last 20 years.
In our report, published today, we have set out the huge contribution that these schemes have made to the natural environment – to England´s much loved landscapes from Northumberland to the Lizard Peninsula, to our wildlife, our historic environment and archaeology and to natural resources.
From the outset these schemes, first launched in the 1980s, have been a joint initiative between conservationists and farmers, in response to dramatic declines in the natural environment.
These schemes have evolved over the past two decades and now form an integral part of farming businesses for more than 36,000 English farmers.
Each year we put between 350 and £400million pounds into the rural economy – rewarding farming for the best conservation practices and environmental land management.
It’s something that all sides should be proud of and something decision makers in Europe would be well advised to take a closer look at.
Because if we are to meet the challenges ahead – growing populations, increased demand for food, and a changing climate – there is going to have to be greater integration between farming and environmental management, not less.
Today over 6 million hectares are under agreement - almost 66% of the agricultural land in England.
The report sets out, in some detail, the huge difference these schemes have made.
41% of hedgerows in England (over one hundred thousand miles of feeding stations for a huge range of native wildlife) are actively managed under AES with a further 6% (over thirteen thousand miles) having been restored in the last 10 years.
12 500 miles of stonewalls have been maintained and repaired.
84% (928,684ha) of Biodiversity Action Plan priority habitat is under agreement.
Our report shows that carefully targeted initiatives can boost scarce farmland bird numbers significantly.
For example cirl bunting pairs have increased by 130% (1992-2003).
Despite all the successes of the last twenty years there is still much to do – the natural environment remains under huge pressure and in many places wildlife is still threatened.
This is of real concern at a time when there is pressure to increase food production.
This hugely complex debate is sadly often presented as a choice between food production and the natural environment.
Bread or birds – which is it to be?
Fortunately there are very few voices calling for a return to the policies of the past where the focus was on production no matter what the impact on the natural environment.
Today there is a growing realisation that the decline in say farmland birds indicates a decline in the wider environment.
And that decline signals that the services a healthy natural environment provides, services we all depend on like clean water and air, climate regulation and carbon storage, are at risk - including future food production.
The agri-environment approach, which integrates production with conservation, is the way forward.
The challenge now is to move to a food production system that provides food security at the same time as maintaining and restoring the rich diversity of life on earth.
The best way to do this, we believe, is to appropriately rewarded land managers for the labour and investment they put in.
Just as we have been doing over the 20 years through agri-environment schemes.
To build on the success of the last twenty years we need to explore ways to reward farmers for the wider services that they provide.
We are already looking at how this might be done and are planning to launch four pilot projects later this year focussing on the wide range of services the uplands provide.
And we look forward to the launch of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment later this week - an important initiative to ensure that the environmental benefits of set aside are not lost.
This signals, I think, a new era of partnership to secure the long term health of the natural environment and all the services it provides.
