As the final Campaign for the Farmed Environment survey nears, farmers are being urged to demonstrate their conservation efforts to give the CFE the best possible bargaining position when the voluntary scheme comes under government review. 

On 20th February, a Campaign for the Farmed Environment survey will be issued to 5,500 randomly-selected farmers across England to find out how much land is managed outside of paid agri-environment schemes. The CFE has said that the results of these surveys, the last in a series which have been issued throughout the initiative’s two year lifespan, will prove crucial in showing farmers’ achievements ahead of a review of the CFE in the summer.

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CFE chair Jim Egan said, “We need a strong farming voice to demonstrate that land can and is being managed responsibly without regulation. Without the evidence from this survey, government may not be able to support voluntary industry-wide approaches in the future.”

He said the survey of 11 questions should take approximately 15 minutes. Farmers should answer based on their land management for the current 2011 to 2012 cropping year. Reminders will be sent to those who have not returned the survey within two weeks.

The Campaign, which is supported by a range of industry, government and NGO partners, was brought in as an alternative to legislative measures to protect the environment. Those behind the scheme claim that positive results from the CFE surveys will be instrumental in keeping ‘greening measures’, which may become mandatory for pillar one payments as part of the EU Common Agricultural Policy reforms, in pillar two during forthcoming CAP negotiations.

However, many believe that mandatory greening is essential if policy makers want to see environmental benefits now; the EU, and other intensively farmed global regions are suffering a dramatic loss of biodiversity, which will impact severely on farmers as well as wider communities and other businesses, and there have been calls to take ‘ecosystem services’ such as biodiversity, healthy soil and clean air and water into account in future decisions, rather than chasing capital gain.

At a debate over CAP reform in December, Tassos Haniotis, Director of Economic Analysis, Perspectives and Evaluations Directorate in the European Commission Agriculture Directorate explained the Commission’s position, "We want simple, controllable measures across the EU. Through this 30 per cent greening element we hope to address market and environmental failures across the EU, whilst maintaining economically and environmentally viable agriculture."

Whilst there have been calls to produce ever-more food, increasing strain on agricultural systems, food policy experts have said that there is more than enough food already produced in the world and that inefficiencies and inequality are to blame for gluts and scarcity. The speakers cautioned against greed cloaked in the rhetoric of ‘food security.’

Mr Haniotis was backed up by David Baldock, Director for the Institute for European Environmental Policy, who said, there is a pressing need to make changes now to ensure agriculture remains viable in the future. He warned, "Environmental policy and management is failing; 45 per cent of agricultural soil is low on carbon, we can't meet our biodiversity targets and there is a huge issue with nitrogen pollution."

Results of the CFE survey will be available in mid-May.  

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