The farming industry has been entrusted with a voluntary agreement to take action to ensure farms support and protect wildlife and biodiversity by the government.
The new agreement, launched at a press conference at the Royal Show last week, will see the National Farmers' Union, the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) and other industry partners work with Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds work together.
The aim is to get more farmers into environmental stewardship and expand voluntary action to help protect water quality and the farmland birds, plants and animals typical of the local landscape.
This commitment by the farming industry has enabled the government to avoid having to regulate to recapture the environmental benefits of set-aside, which was abolished last year.
Under the new agreement, farmers will double the uptake of key agri-environment Entry Level Scheme in-field options, covering 40,000 hectares on top of current levels; increasing uncropped land by 20,000ha from January 2008 levels.
The campaign will also seek to improve the environmental management of at least 60,000ha of this land and introduce voluntary measures on other land covering at least 30,000ha and up to 50,000ha.
The Campaign for the Farmed Environment will be led by the industry and will give farmers advice and guidance on how to take appropriate action on their land.
CLA president Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: “The industry will do its utmost to encourage farmers and land managers to take part in the voluntary scheme and we look forward to working with our partners in conservation and government agencies to help us achieve the campaigns objectives.
“The industry partners trust government will give this the time it needs to work. We call on farmers and land managers to continue maintaining their former set-aside areas as these will make important contributions to the campaign’s targets.”
DEFRA secretary of state Hilary Benn said: “It’s a clear challenge to all farmers from the industry and government together - the success of this approach is in your hands.
“I do want to recognise what many farmers are doing already. Two-thirds of England’s farmers have already put part of their land into an agri-environment scheme, in addition to voluntary action taking place outside this scheme to encourage birdlife and greater biodiversity. But we all agree that we need to do more for the environment.”
Concerns that, if the campaign fails, the government will have to take a regulatory approach were quashed by Benn, who urged farmers to take a positive approach to prevent enforced action and set a target of 2012 to review the agreement, with monitoring continuing before this.
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