Special issue: Land use futures across the UK

• New farming rules for water – page 6• Fitting trees into sustainable land use

policy – page 8• Brexit impact on land use in Scotland’s

Highlands and Islands – page 10

Fieldfare The RSPB’s land use policy newsletter

Summer 2018

Fieldfare Summer 20182

Welcome

Land use futures across the UK

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Agri-environment schemes can be a lifeline to wildlife on farms.

This edition of Fieldfare focuses on the theme of land use futures in the UK.

As this newsletter has shown over the years, there are multiple competing uses for land – for housing, infrastructure, agriculture, as well as the natural resources and biodiversity that land provides.

In order to balance these interests, we need the correct policies in place to ensure that land is used in ways that are both productive to the economy but also fulfil this government’s stated ambition to leave the environment in a better state than they inherited it.

The RSPB takes a keen interest in this balance, highlighted in our forward-looking trials at Hope Farm, looking for synergies between ecological and agricultural sustainability (see page 5), and research at two of our upland reserves in Northern England analysing the environmental and economic performance of the farming operations (page 10).

We also look at policies which will affect the future of land use. The government’s new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (page 4), is motivated largely by the need

EU and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With agriculture a major driver of environmental change, and farm wildlife still in trouble, a new farming and land management policy represents a real chance to improve outcomes for nature.

Meanwhile, the complexities of EU exit and UK devolution continue and we have updates on land use policy in Wales (page 4), Scotland (page 11) and Northern Ireland (page12). I hope that in all countries of the UK the type of innovative and long-term thinking seen in the following pages will influence policy-makers going forward.

Mike Clarke, Chief Executive

to address the nation’s housing shortage, but we want to ensure that doing so does not cause nature to lose out. Meanwhile new farming rules for water (pp.6-7) could play a key part in helping deliver the ambitions of the government’s 25 year plan for the environment, but only if they are tightened up or more resource is given to regulators to enforce them.

And of course, looming over any discussion of land use futures are the implications of the UK’s departure from the European Union. A clear example is in Scotland’s Highlands and Islands, which contain significant amounts of high nature value farming and crofting. These activities already face significant challenges, many of which could be accelerated or exacerbated by Brexit, resulting in social, economic and environmental harms according to a new report (page 10).

But Brexit also offers an opportunity to think innovatively about future land use and to improve on the current situation. As we discuss on page 3 (opposite), the Government will shortly table its new agriculture bill in the Westminster Parliament, which will set out how agriculture and land management policy will change once the UK has left the

Fieldfare Summer 2018 3

New Agriculture Bill expected after the summerWith an Agriculture Bill at Westminster imminent, this legislation will play a crucial role in shaping future land use in England.

Between February and May, Defra consulted on the future of “food, farming and the environment in a Green Brexit”. Farmers, conservationists and many others are now waiting for the Government response, with most focused on the Agriculture Bill, and what it might mean for the countryside, farming and wildlife.

This Bill will be crucial in determining whether we have the tools needed to drive the restoration of wildlife across the countryside. It will also indicate whether the Government’s welcome rhetoric about an environmental land management scheme forming the “cornerstone” of a future farming

long-term investment in environmental public goods. In addition to this, the Bill must also set out a strong regulatory baseline, mechanisms to secure long-term funding and frameworks for cooperation with devolved administrations to ensure a common level of environmental ambition.

Read our briefing: greeneruk.org/resources/Agriculture_Bill_Briefing_June.pdf

For more informationcontact Tom Lancaster: tom.lancaster@rspb.org.uk

policy is to be matched by legislative action. The signs at present are mixed. Although expected to be accompanied by a detailed statement on future policy, the Bill itself may be a narrow, “framework” Bill, focused more on the practicalities around what powers Ministers may need to develop future policies. This would be a missed opportunity to set out an ambitious direction of travel in line with the 25-year environment plan in England, and in so doing provide long-term certainty.

As part of Greener UK and Wildlife and Countryside Link, we have published a briefing calling on Government to be ambitious, and include a broad purpose on the face of the Bill to drive forward

News in brief

Each year we are thrilled with Hope Farm’s ability to host such an abundant diversity of birds, and last winter we were blown away by 180-strong flocks of skylarks, record counts of reed buntings, and many more species making a spectacle across the farm. It is so rewarding that so many birds can find a rich habitat through winter in a relatively ordinary yet trend-bucking working farm.

Winter survival is one of the key reasons for bird decline across the

UK, but careful management has meant that we can proudly say Hope Farm’s winter farmland birds have increased by 1,739%. Through the planting of winter bird seed mixes and the provision of supplementary seed, seed-eating birds are well-fed. Leaving winter fallows and growing cover crops also means more insect food for insectivorous birds. This, with careful hedgerow management to supply berries through the coldest months, means that we can maintain high hopes for our birds even in the harshest days of the year.

For more informationcontact Georgina Bray: georgina.bray@rspb.org.uk

Hope Farm is providing habitat for birds over winter, including skylarks.

Hope Farm’s record winter bird count

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News storiesE

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A green and pleasant land?

“Welsh land should deliver public goods for all the people of Wales”

National Planning Policy Framework (the NPPF)

We welcome the Welsh Government’s Five Principles for Future Land Management.

In March 2018, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched a consultation into a draft version of the NPPF for England. We responded in May and a new NPPF was published on 24 July.

The NPPF sets out the planning policy priorities for England. Consequently, it has significant implications for the future of our land. The changes are wide-ranging and most aim to deliver a significant increase in the supply of homes. This is understandable, given the importance of housing to this Government and to people who struggle to own or rent a home.

However, biodiversity declines continue unabated across England with urbanisation one of the key drivers of biodiversity change, with a largely negative impact. We recognise that the NPPF has sought to respond

For more information contact Arfon Williams: arfon.williams@rspb.org.ukor visit naturalresources.wales

published framework is undoubtedly balanced in favour of housing delivery.

Ultimately, the Government has missed a key opportunity to provide an effective framework for spatial planning at the local level – a National Spatial Plan – which could help

to the ambition in the 25 Year Environment Plan and places more emphasis on effective use of land and buildings – if done appropriately, this could help protect our most special sites for wildlife.

However, the scale and pace of housing growth is likely to significantly impact on the environment. Although changes have been made for the better since the draft – including greater recognition of the importance of non-strategic (local) policies, reinstatement of some protection for Local Wildlife Sites and reference to Nature Recovery Networks – the

In Wales, we want to see land managed sustainably so that it benefits people, the environment and nature as well as an economic future for land managers.

Some argue that Wales is already a green and pleasant land and that maintaining the status quo is all that’s required to look after nature and the wider environment. However, looks are deceiving and Wales’ first State of Natural Resources Report has shown that none of Wales’ ecosystems, on which we all depend, are resilient.The report also highlights that unsustainable land management has gradually driven declines in biodiversity, degraded our soils and

continues to pollute our freshwaters. It’s obvious that we need to change how and why we manage our land and exiting the EU provides Wales with a unique opportunity to develop new sustainable land management policies and support in the context of our own legislation.

We have long argued that existing support via CAP Pillar 1 payments is unsustainable and represents poor value for money and therefore very much welcome the Welsh Government’s Five Principles for Future Land Management, which includes “our new policy should centre on Welsh land delivering public goods for all the people of Wales”.

integrate and deliver other public objectives, including for the natural environment. We will continue to champion this along with partners.

For more informationcontact Simon Marsh: simon.marsh@rspb.org.uk

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News stories

New Hope Farm trials seek synergies between agricultural and ecological sustainability

The most recent strategy has charged its staff with working on some of the wider sustainability challenges that affect modern arable farming.

Not least amongst these are the issues of persistent grass weeds’ resistance to herbicides and the need for greater use of cultivation-based weed control; long-term loss of soil organic matter from arable soils; and the need to keep soils on fields.

A major piece of work to address some of these problems, through the lens of farm wildlife sustainability, began shortly before harvest in 2015. A synergy of timing of two new soil enhancement practices – winter cover crops before spring-sown crops, and the widespread use of green compost to enhance soil organic matter and partially replace inorganic nitrogen

fertiliser – afforded us the opportunity to set up a two-way split field trial of these two practices and their influence on a variety of soil and agronomy parameters.

Annual soil sampling occurs across three fields, each split into four differing combinations of the two management techniques (compost alone, cover crop alone, compost and cover crop and neither). The sampling regime involves collecting invertebrates from the vegetation, soil surface and within the soil, measuring a range of macro-nutrients, collecting soil for independent analysis of microbial flora (in collaboration with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology) and measuring field-scale yield of crops under each treatment. Regular surveys also measure the abundance of the pernicious weed blackgrass in each plot.

Early analyses show significant influences of compost addition on soil nutrients. There are also indications that both compost and cover crops have a positive influence on the number of earthworms, and that cover crop vegetation imcreases food availability to wintering insectivorous birds.

Work is continuing on this trial, as well as wider surveys on the winter and summer influence of these practices on farmland specialist species, such as the starling, skylark and grey partridge.

For more informationcontact Rob Field: rob.field@rspb.org.uk

Research at RSPB’s Hope Farm has recently broadened its aims, moving beyond the very successful farm wildlife enhancement objectives that drove the project’s inception.

Farm Wildlife welcomes new partnerThe Freshwater Habitats Trust has recently joined the Farm Wildlife partnership, bringing the number of participating conservation organisations to nine. It joins the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust, Bat Conservation Trust, Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts. The partnership was established to provide a single, joined-up source of advice for the conservation of farmland wildlife. This is based around six key elements

Visit farmwildlife.infofor more information

which can be incorporated intot he farm, including flower-rich habitats and wet features. The knowledge and expertise of the Freshwater Habitats Trust will be greatly valued as Farm Wildlife reviews and develops its advice in the future.

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Feature

Farming rules for water: Can an ”advice-led” approach work?

There are two essential features. Firstly, the minimum standard must be set at a level that ensures farming activities do not compromise our ability to maintain clean and healthy waters. Secondly, it must be enforceable, so that farmers and the public can be confident that everybody is working to a common standard and nobody is cheating the system and passing the cost of dealing with pollution on to others.

There are other features you might want to see. It could be outcome-focused, allowing the flexibility for

those affected to choose the approach to meeting standards that best fits with their business. A livestock farmer looking to prevent soil loss through poaching could fence off riverbanks or could reduce livestock numbers in fields with access to the river. Enforcement would be proportionate, with deliberate or reckless breaches resulting in penalties that act as a significant deterrent, whilst minor, accidental infringements would be dealt with through advice and follow-up visits.

So how do the new Farming Rules for Water in England measure up? First

impressions are that they are a sensible set of rules. Rule 6 requires land managers to ”take reasonable precautions to prevent significant soil erosion and runoff”. The problem is that ”reasonable precautions” and ”significant soil erosion”’ are subjective. What one person considers to be a reasonable precaution may seem excessive to another. The guidance on proving and checking compliance for Rule 6 states that proving significant soil erosion requires evidence of soil erosion over one or more hectares and the source, pathway and receptor water body

What would the ideal programme of compulsory basic measures to prevent pollution of water by agriculture look like?

If the government is serious about improving the environment then the regulator should be properly resourced.

Farming rules for water: Can an ”advice-led” approach work?

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Feature

would need to be identified. Not only does that set a low bar, it also places a burden of evidence on the Environment Agency as the statutory body responsible for enforcement.

The risk is that it is not necessarily easy for farmers to judge whether the precautions they are taking are sufficient. A truly ”advice-led” approach, where minor breaches are dealt with through advice and follow-up, similar to how the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency enforces minor breaches of the Scottish General Binding Rules, would provide confidence to farmers. However, the Environment Agency simply does not have enough Enforcement Officers to work in that way.

In 2017 the Environment Agency cut its required farm inspection rates from 1% to 0.5%. Whilst it is possible to target enforcement using satellite imagery

and other data to focus on areas where the risks are greatest, there is clearly not enough resource to effectively enforce existing regulation, let alone an approach that requires numerous follow-up visits.

This leaves the Government’s decision to not make the new rules part of cross compliance difficult to comprehend because the Rural Payments Agency, who monitor cross compliance, are not required to ensure compliance with the new rules.

There is currently a serious mismatch between the resources available to the Environment Agency and those required to deliver the approach to enforcement it has decided to take. If the Government is serious about improving the environment for future generations then it must either resource the regulator to apply the preferred advice-led approach or it must revise the Farming Rules, to

make them much more prescriptive and apply penalties for breaches that are tough enough to compensate for a low rate of detection.

There is much to be gained by providing farmers with the flexibility to comply in a way that fits their business. Progressive farmers would develop innovative ways of safeguarding resources and could share that learning, effectively raising standards across the board. It might also help to build trust between farmers and regulators.

The introduction of Farming Rules for Water is a welcome step but there can be little confidence they are the game changer we need.

More informationContact Nathan Richardson: nathan.richardson @rspb.org.uk

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Land use futures

Fitting trees into a new sustainable land use policy Darren Moorcroft, Director of Estates and Woodland Outreach at the Woodland Trust, looks at how trees and woods fit into the sustainable land use puzzle.

Over my last 20+ years of working in agriculture, it feels that the search for solutions to a more sustainable land use has been like searching for a holy grail. If only we could invent something which enhances farming output and boosts environmental performance. Something which cleans the air. Something which not only prevents soil erosion but boosts soil sustainability. Something which helps clean our water and reduces flood risk. Something which enhances our countryside for people and wildlife. Something that does all this and also produces marketable products. Wouldn’t that be a fantastic invention, particularly if the benefits grew with time rather than depreciating?

The simple answer is yes.

The good news is we have that “invention” already in the shape of trees. What we don’t currently have is a land management policy which recognises it. The Common Agricultural Policy effectively split the countryside from towns and cities, separated land managers into farmers

and non-farmers, and often excluded trees and woods from land management. The opportunity for a new truly sustainable policy is to recognise the increasing evidence that trees and woods can be a major contributor to solving the sustainability puzzle we face.

On individual farms, in the uplands or the lowlands, on arable or livestock systems, we have been working with farmers, helping them to integrate trees into their systems. In doing so, they are reaping the rewards of cleaner water, shelter for their livestock, crop pollination, integrated pest management, product diversification, and healthier soils. And wider society (and the farmers) benefit from cleaner air, reduced flood risk, richer populations of wildlife, as well as more beautiful landscapes to work in or visit.

Alongside this future positive approach, we must also respect the irreplaceable heritage of our remaining ancient woods and trees. This crucial component of our natural capital, amongst our most biodiverse

habitats, is at risk today from piecemeal erosion through hundreds of small scale losses – from inappropriately sited development, pests and disease, and a lack of management.

To achieve a more robust and resilient landscape, for people and for wildlife, we must protect and enhance the role of trees and woods in our countryside, as part of wider habitat networks and as a valued component of sustainable and productive land management systems. Maintaining what we have and adding to it is the start of a truly sustainable future land management policy.

They say the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the next best time is now. The same is surely true for creating a sustainable land management policy.

For more information about the Woodland Trust, visit: woodlandtrust.org.uk

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“We must protect and enhance the role of trees and woods in our countryside.”

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Land use futures

The right tree in the right place

Woodland species like the lesser spotted woodpecker and high brown fritillary butterfly are disappearing. Creating more better-connected and better-managed native woodland will help, whilst also providing resilience to some of the threats facing woodlands and forestry.

Other wildlife needs areas of open ground. Species like the curlew – an iconic bird of wild, open places – must be protected from tree planting that leads to loss of habitat, or provides cover for predators.

Getting the balance right will require a strategic approach to woodland expansion. Weighing up the environmental impacts and integrating new woodland into the wider landscape will ensure that the impacts are positive. Support will be required to create nature-rich woodlands, but the benefits could hugely outweigh the costs. The Public Forest Estate also has a significant role to play, by delivering

an exemplary approach to woodland management for wildlife.

Woodland planning and management can benefit from technology like the Woodland Wildlife Toolkit. This has been developed by the Bat Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Forestry Commission, Natural England, Plantlife, the RSPB, Sylva Foundation and Woodland Trust to target woodland management based on wildlife present in the wider landscape.

We can also learn from previous woodland creation throughout the UK to deliver woodlands which live up to the expression “right tree in the right place.”

In England, we look forward to working with the recently appointed Government Tree Champion to ensure that biodiversity enhancement underpins woodland expansion and helps to deliver a half-million-hectare Nature Recovery Network to reverse wildlife declines.

In Scotland, we look forward to taking part in discussions about a Forestry Strategy for Scotland to ensure it promotes sustainable forestry that is integrated with other land uses. In Wales, where the Minister for the Environment has made increasing tree cover one of her top priorities, we are working to ensure the mechanisms and tools developed to achieve this protect and enhance biodiversity. In Northern Ireland, we are engaging with the Forest Service in their forestry opportunity planning to seek improved management of state owned forests.

One universal certainty is that well planned and managed woodland will deliver benefits for nature and society for generations.

For more informationcontact Neil Douglas: neil.douglas@rspb.org.uk

We need more native woodland. UK governments have set stretching targets for woodland expansion. With the right approach, these could deliver huge benefits.

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Red-listed woodland birds like the wood warbler stand to benefit from an increase in the right kind of woodland.

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Land use futures

How will Brexit affect land use in Scotland’s Highlands and Islands?

Farming in the hills – less can be better

A new report commissioned by the Highlands and Islands Agriculture Support Group (HIASG) looks at the ‘Post-Brexit Implications for Agriculture and Related Land Use in the Highlands and Islands’.

Our European Union exit is likely to have a major impact on hill farming.

It highlights the unique conditions and challenges faced by farmers, crofters and land managers in the Highlands and Islands, and assesses the likely impacts of different Brexit scenarios on the economy and communities and their related effects on wildlife, the environment and key sectors such as tourism.

The report concludes that existing trends such as declining agricultural activity, land abandonment and a shrinking agricultural workforce, could be accelerated by Brexit. These trends have negative effects on environmental land management and upstream and downstream sectors such as food and drink and tourism.

Over the last few months, the RSPB has been examining the performance of our on-reserve upland farming operations at Geltsdale and Haweswater in Cumbria.

At Geltsdale, our farm tenant grazes cattle and sheep, adjusted to deliver a suite of nature conservation objectives. In contrast, at Haweswater (where the RSPB is a tenant of United Utilities), the hill sheep farming operation is managed by a contract farmer, with the objective of securing improvements in raw water quality at source. Both farming operations are reliant on support payments. Our upland farms are not an

The north and west of Scotland faces a number of climatic and biophysical constraints which make farming and land management challenging. But moreover, most of Scotland’s high nature value farming areas are in the Highlands and Islands, as are a great number and variety of designated sites for important species and habitats. There are thus specific needs and contributions in these areas that the current support system for agriculture and land use does not recognise.

With the challenges of Brexit, there is a clear need for support that brings social, economic and environmental benefits to these areas and to ensure that vibrant rural communities can be

exception. Throughout the UK uplands, sheep and mixed cattle and sheep farms would be largely loss making without support payments.

To increase the profitability of their farming system, some hill farmers increase livestock numbers. However, the associated annual variable costs of supporting increased livestock in the uplands often exceed market returns, resulting in the farming operation actually losing money. The market return for lamb and beef alone is insufficient to bridge the profitability gap – hill farmers should not correct for the difficulty of farming in the hills (eg climate, poor

sustained. This will benefit the species and habitats which depend on this way of farming, such as corncrakes, geese and waders. Future policy and funding will need to respond to these challenges and reflect the distinctive needs and contributions of the Highlands and Islands.

HIASG consists of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Western Isles, Argyll and Bute and Highland Councils and RSPB Scotland.

For more informationcontact Anna Brand: anna.brand@rspb.org.uk

soil and distance from markets) by adding costs.

Though counter-intuitive, some hill farmers could improve their economic performance by downsizing (to reduce costs) and focusing on environmental delivery. Farmers may only be able to make such an adjustment if a new payment to deliver public benefits replaces the current Basic Payment Scheme made under the CAP.

For more informationcontact patrick.thompson@rspb.org.uk

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Land use futures

Land use futures in Scotland: where next for agri-environment?

Annual management needs to be maintained, such as mowing fields late for corncrake, or maintaining the right grazing on sensitive habitats. In many places doing so relies on compensation to farmers and crofters for continuing these good practices year after year. As management agreements come to an end, but with no opportunity for farmers and crofters to reapply for funding, we risk reversing some of the gains that have been made for wildlife in the wider countryside.

A new report on the impacts of Brexit on the Highlands and Islands (see previous article), where much of our

high nature value farming is located shows the multiple challenges facing the agricultural sector. Declining farm business incomes, alongside concerns for biodiversity, soil health, and climate change, mean there is a clear need to do things a bit differently in Scotland. However, this needs long-term thinking and innovative solutions that will take time to develop.

We urgently need the Scottish Government to lead these important conversations about what kind of rural Scotland we would like to see in the future, and make sure that we have broad and inclusive discussions involving all sectors.

In the meantime, continuing the agri-environment schemes that we have for as long as the funding is available is crucial, to make sure that habitats and species are protected. RSPB Scotland is clear: we want a world richer in nature. With over 70% of Scotland’s landscape under some form of agricultural management, this means supporting farmers and crofters to help make this happen across Scotland’s countryside.

For more informationcontact Anna Brand: anna.brand@rspb.org.uk

With uncertainty surrounding agri-environment funding in 2019 and beyond, we experience growing concern for the habitats and species that rely on continuous land management.

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High nature value farming faces multiple challenges in Scotland and needs long-term thinking.

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News stories

Ploughing ahead in Northern IrelandThe collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly represents one of the biggest challenges facing the UK as negotiations to leave the EU continue. The current situation of political limbo, which has lasted over a year, means that Northern Ireland ultimately has no political representation at a critically important juncture.

Whilst the other devolved nations are discussing key issues such as the structure of common frameworks and investigating the impacts and possible mitigations of Brexit, Northern Ireland has been largely absent from the conversation. As time drags on, the risk of falling behind the rest of the UK increases.

This is particularly relevant regarding the future of farming and land management in Northern Ireland. As agriculture is a devolved competency, each of the devolved administrations

will have to develop their own relevant policy and legislation. Without a working Assembly and associated institutions, this is highly difficult.

Despite the lack of a functioning government, however, many stakeholders with an interest in our countryside have been working together to develop a future agriculture and land management policy for Northern Ireland. As part of the Northern Ireland Environment Link’s (NIEL) Brexit Coalition, we have played an active role in the Department of Agriculture Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Trade and Agriculture subcommittee. Through this, we have contributed to a position paper on the future of NI agricultural policy, which will play a significant role in determining the direction of farming and land management here.

We believe it is vital that the environment is at the heart of any agriculture policy in the future and that the principle of ”public money for public goods” guides public investment decisions.

This paper is ready to be released for public consultation, and we believe it is in the public interest to do so, but with no Assembly in place to sign it off, further progress has been stalled at a critical time. Despite these obstacles, there is hope that we can work together to develop a farming system for Northern Ireland that is fair to farmers, whilst providing societal benefits including the provision of environmental public goods.

For more informationcontact John Martin: john.martin@rspb.org.uk

Andy H

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ContactsIf you have any comments about Fieldfare and the topics discussed in this issue, if you’d like to change how you hear from us (email or by post) or if you no longer wish to receive this publication, please email: agriculturepolicy@rspb.org.uk For more information about your data protection rights please visit: rspb.org.uk/privacypolicy.

The RSPB is a member of BirdLife International, a partnership of conservation organisations working to give nature a home around the world.

The RSPB, UK Headquarters, The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire, SG19 2DL. Tel: 01767 680551.RSPB Scotland, 2 Lochside View, Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh, EH12 9DH. Tel: 0131 317 4100.RSPB Northern Ireland Headquarters, Belvoir Park Forest, Belfast, BT8 7QT. Tel: 028 9049 1547.RSPB Wales Headquarters, Castlebridge 3, 5–19 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF11 9AB. Tel: 029 2035 3000.

rspb.org.ukThe RSPB is a registered charity in England and Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654.

The RSPB is the country’s largest nature conservation charity, inspiring everyone to give nature a home.

Front cover: Highland cow by Ben Hall (rspb-images.com) 283-0071-17-18

Despite the lack of a functioning government, stakeholders are working to develop future land use policy.