As the Campaign for the Farmed Environment enters its final year, the partners involved in the scheme have urged farmers to record work they are undertaking to support the campaign, claiming the final survey will be vital in securing a future for the CFE.

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The CFE was set up to promote and encourage stewardship work undertaken voluntarily by farmers to avoid the need for future regulation. The scheme is supported by partners in government, industry and conservation NGOs.

As part of the campaign, farmers are asked to dedicate three to four per cent of their holding to management practices or to gain least a third of their ELS points from certain options. However, if the campaign has not gained enough support by June, there is a high risk of return to regulation, including a reintroduction ofcompulsory set-aside.

Initial figures suggest there has been a significant increase in stewardship activity since the scheme’s launch in 2009, but the campaign’s organisers said there remains a lot to be done by June.

In response to questions over the future of the CFE in the face of CAP reform, the approach of which has led some industry commentators to suggest farmers are unwilling to renew or join voluntary schemes over fears they will be locked into the schemes and will suffer if greening measures become compulsory, Farming Minister Jim Paice said, “Continued participation in the campaign by as many farmers as possible is vital at this stage in negotiations.”

Speaking in December Mr Paice offered assurances that he would push for environmental measures to remain part of pillar 2, but said, “Good use of our Environment Stewardship funding, including through participation in the CFE, is fundamental to our goal of persuading others that environmental land management is best achieved through a strong Pillar 2.”

A recent survey of the public revealed that an overwhelming majority believe farmers have an obligation to protect the environment, with 78 per cent of respondents also saying farmers should be remunerated for this. There are concerns that current Common Agricultural Policy reform proposals favour large industrial units over smaller, mixed systems; although proposed greening measures would impact very little on large-scale enterprises, there have been warnings they could affect family farms.   

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