Independent awarding body, BASIS, has launched a new training course - ‘Principles of Sustainable Land Management’ - to support the farming sector across the UK to further their knowledge of integrated farming practices, whilst achieving the new requirements of environmental land management schemes.

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Teresa Meadows, BASIS head of environment, audit and public affairs, says that to make it fully accessible, participants will have the option to complete the learning through an interactive self-guided online course or through in-person training.

“Following consultation with industry stakeholders and Defra, the course has been designed to showcase how a farm’s environmental potential can be maximised, while maintaining productivity.”

“It serves as an introduction, both to those who are new to the sustainable land management sector, as well as a useful tool for those interested in participating in, or advising on, Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI),” she says.

Ben Goad, grass and soils adviser in Cumbria, who is one of the first to take part in the course says: “The course is really well put together. As an adviser, I know certain areas in detail but roughly knew about some of the new practices. The way that it explains about sustainable farming is brilliant and I particularly enjoyed the information from real people and industry links, for example the explanation on changes to the Basic Payment Scheme and where we’re currently sitting at on an average arable farm and the changes to income over the next few years – everyone has got to be smarter. 

It was a good benchmark to understand the changes and provide a roadmap, clearly demonstrating that small tweaks pays you dividends for the business, environmental compliance, production, yield and soil fertility – the course shows it is all interlinked.”

This comprehensive introductory course enables farmers, land managers, agronomists and advisers to better understand the economics of funded options, and further their technical and practical knowledge of the following concepts:

• Sustainable farm and environmental land management policy
• Farmland wildlife and habitat management
• Soil and water management
• Nutrient management
• Grassland and historic features management

Lily Gray, admin officer at the Farming in Protected Landscapes team with the Cornwall AONB Partnership who was one of the first to take part in the online training course says: “This course is great. It provides a comprehensive overview of the quite complex and changing policy landscape and will be useful for people working in all types of agriculture (including farmers themselves).”

“Anyone interested in gaining more in-depth knowledge of sustainable land management can progress to more advanced courses, such as BETA Conservation Management, the Soil and Water Management Certificate or Advanced Quality of Soils,” concludes Miss Meadows.

For more information or to book your course, please visit the BASIS website: www.basis-reg.co.uk.