‘Everyone’s a winner’ with CFE campaign

ROBERT Campbell, in partnership with his son, James, farms 404 hectares (1,000 acres) across four farms, within a two-mile radius, at Stokesley, North Yorkshire.

The land is mainly arable, growing wheat, barley and oilseed rape with 89ha (220 acres) of grass. They also have a 890ha (2,200 acres) farm in Scotland – all grass and fodder crops – where they run a 220-head suckler cow herd and 2,500 ewes.

Mr Campbell has always farmed with the environment in mind and joined LEAF at its start-up. He says: “LEAF advocates the system I and many other farmers use. Most are careful about what they do, but don’t get any recognition for it. LEAF aims to deliver that recognition.

Environment’s value

“We farmers produce food and we produce the environment. The problem is the environment has a value, but it has no market. But farmers have to mentally accept that whatever subsidy they get is payment from the public for public goods and environmental benefits.

“A key aim is to get to the point where the industry is regarded as looking after the environment. One problem is that the general public is often influenced by information they acquire, which can be misleading.

“From the farmer’s point of view, measures which enhance the environment can also bring both financial and management benefits to the farm. How I look at things is to say ‘if I farm that square yard with wheat, will it yield a profitable crop.’ If not, then I think of something else.”

Mr Campbell believes the key benefit of the CFE is it allows farmers to keep control of what they do. They can identify what they can best do on their own farm by looking at what is already there and finding ways to enhance it.

“What people must realise is if the CFE is unsuccessful, the other option is compulsory set-aside with strict regulation.

“At least five per cent of farmed arable land will have to be taken out of production. That can’t include industrial crops, field corners or uncultivated land – it will have to be productive land. So it is in a farmer’s own interests to make this work.

“The first challenge is to get people to join up to ELS again. Gaining enough points might be a problem for some; particularly small units, but agronomists and advisers are being trained.

“Those not in ELS, for whatever reason, are usually still doing a lot of things, so it is important they understand that recording these as part of the CFE, is important.”

One of the measures taken by Mr Campbell, on his farm, has been to build a beetle bank along a strip of land up a field which has four telegraph poles in it. He says: “We don’t now need to take the time and effort to go round the poles and there is no danger of us catching the wires. It has also had the effect of straightening up the edges of the field, making it parallel.”

Corners in fields on marginal, clay land, which only break even, have been taken out. Likewise, some stretches along wood sides which are very shaded have not been cropped and margins – which for ELS need to be four or six metres – have been widened beyond this.

Marginal clay land

Most of the hedges are now cut much less often, which has significantly increased some species of birds on the farm. Mr Campbell has reverted to use of a finger bar hedge cutter, rather than a flail cutter.

He says: “Now we have margins, there is no need to collect the cuttings, which is time-saving and they also create more habitats at the base of the hedge. The finger bar cutter is two metres wide, so we need less passes and it is faster and uses less energy. We now only use a flail cutter in pastures and on roadsides.”

Yorkshire is a very diverse county and Mr Campbell is well aware that in certain situations some options are just not suitable. He says: “For example, on this farm overwintered stubbles are just not practical on the heavy clay, but everyone should be able to find things which work for them.

“Farmers are already doing a lot of good work, though they have not been able to prove it, but by recording what they do in the CFE booklet, their work will be recognised and counted towards the government’s targets.

One area which Mr Campbell feels farmers should prioritise is resource protection. Not because it has been degraded, but because of continuous upgrading and the increasing regulatory burden, it is in farmers’ interests to look at where their water goes. This will also take pressure off the industry as a whole.

Mr Campbell says: “Putting in banks can stop erosion and grab water, preventing loss of soil, nutrients and the crop and should result in a better crop all over the field.”

Mr Campbell thinks farmers are now becoming more aware of the CFE and it is beginning to ‘get off the ground.’ He says: “Winter is a quiet time. Agronomists are not visiting farms and there are no farm walks, so information does not spread quickly, but by spring and early summer, the hope is we will quickly achieve a good uptake.

“I am optimistic this campaign will be a success and the government will not resort to compulsory set-aside. I think they have just really woken up to the food security issue.

“Plus, Defra and the government in general have budget problems, so they are not really going to want to impose more expensive regulation, but we cannot be complacent.

“The voluntary approach, even though not perfect, is better than the alternative.”

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