The Wildlife Trusts’ today voice concern - amid fears wildlife is suffering one year on from the removal of the set-aside requirement for agricultural land – and frustration that recommendations now being considered by Defra, are likely to infuriate farmers.
On the first anniversary of set-aside removal, the conservation organisation which manages 2,200 nature reserves covering 84,000 hectares throughout the UK, says an area the size of Nottinghamshire has been lost. This equates, roughly, to 50% of land previously set-aside in the UK and includes more than 100,000 hectares of field margins, buffer zones and small fields – vital refuges for wildlife.
Until September 2007, conditions of the single payment scheme meant eight percent of a farm’s land was left fallow, known as ‘set-aside’. In October 2007, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Mariann Fischer-Boel, proposed a 0% set-aside target in response to rising food prices.
Now, the Government is monitoring the situation through the Curry Group, which has already said there is a “strong case for action” to mitigate the negative impact caused by the loss of set-aside. Sir Don Curry’s review has recommended farmers should meet “cross-compliance” conditions, forcing them to preserve some of the benefits of set-aside by choosing to reinstate winter stubble or grass buffers. Farmers will only get subsidies if they mitigate for the loss of set-aside by having fallow land. Environment secretary Hillary Benn wrote to the Curry Group at the end of July 2008, agreeing with these recommendations.
While The Wildlife Trusts sympathise with farmers, who will now have to reintroduce set-aside, they welcome this step forward. The Wildlife Trusts say the high price of farmland and highly volatile food prices shouldn’t prevent the introduction of important environmental measures.
John Cousins, head of agricultural policy for The Wildlife Trusts, said: “We don’t want to see farmers penalised but we do think it’s equitable for all farmers to take part. We feel a tremendous amount could be achieved by a low percentage of set-aside, provided the areas of fallow are in the right areas of the farm and can be joined together to create networks and corridors for wildlife. We would rather see a lower percentage which is effective than a higher percentage that isn’t.
“If, in 2007, the move had been from eight percent to four percent, rather than zero percent, it could have been a much more positive approach. Farmers would not have removed their set-aside, only to have to replace it 12 months later.
“The Wildlife Trusts believe the way forward is for all farmers to be required to establish habitat on their farms at an agreed percentage of their arable area. This will be vital to stem the decline in farmland wildlife.”
Set-aside was first introduced in the early 1990’s as a means of dealing with over-production, and controlling the supply, of cereals. But conservationists and landowners recognised it also delivered many environmental benefits:
• Farmland birds such as skylarks, whose numbers have been in steep decline, benefit from the increased habitat and food sources set-aside land provides.
• The natural regeneration of wild plants in spring and early summer also provides ideal habitat and food sources for many birds, small mammals such as brown hares and field mice, and insects such as bumblebees.
• The reduced use of fertilisers and pesticide on set-aside had benefits for wildlife while improving water quality by reducing diffuse pollution.
• Under set-aside, fallow areas provided connectivity corridors for species across large areas of land, mitigating the effect of climate change as wildlife is forced to adapt and move.
Case study:
Several fields next to Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s Llynclys Common in Oswestry were managed as set-aside for ten years before last September’s rule-change. The hill used to boast spotted and greater butterfly orchids, along with many varieties of wildflowers and grasses. Butterflies were regular visitors in summer, along with goldfinches and many other bird species. All that has now been lost as the field has been ploughed and put down to barley.