Unpaid Voluntary Environmental Land Management

Defra recently released data concerning the unpaid voluntary environmental management of land and attitudes towards the environment and understanding and awareness of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment. The data was collected from farms of at least 10 hectares of crops or grassland.

The findings show that during the crop year 2013-14, 450,000 hectares of land was managed under listed unpaid voluntary environmental measures with an additional 9,760 skylark plots and 7,387km of fenced watercourses. The largest land area of the measures listed was 161,000 hectares of fertiliser free permanent pasture followed by 109,000 hectares of over-wintered stubbles. The findings also show that 44% of farmers surveyed do some form of unpaid voluntary environmental land management. Many farmers think they are already doing enough for the environment and it was the main reason given by the 56% of farmers surveyed who do not have any form of unpaid environmental land management for not doing so. When those without any land already in unpaid voluntary environmental management measures were asked if they intended to do so, 15% answered 'Yes'.

The attitudes of farmers towards the environment are reflected also in their involvement in agri-environment schemes and 51% answered positively regarding membership of Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) scheme. When asked about their decision making regarding the environment about 80% of farmers surveyed put the greatest importance on the efficient use of inputs and protecting soil and water and considered that these should be put in the 'very important' category. Protecting wildlife was also important to a majority of farmers with 59% considering it 'very important'.

The number of farmers who consider that they have a good understanding and awareness of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment remained steady at around 15% between 2012-13 and 2013-14, 47% having some understanding and 12% having little or no idea. The most common source of information regarding the CFE was the farming press (64%) and CFE leaflets (43%) with 22% saying they had none.