This week researchers from the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme (Relu) have called for new agri-environment measures to encourage greater cooperation between farms and estates in efforts to improve the environment.

The researchers said protected landscapes such as National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) could be used as environmental test beds for schemes encouraging such cooperation. image expired

Although such schemes have, in the past, been unsuccessful, Relu have suggested a new 'Entry Level Stewardship Plus' scheme, based in protected lanscapes, which it said could be rolled out, as land managers in these areas already have a basis for working co-operatively.

Prof Philip Lowe, Director of the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme said, “We should be looking for much better returns on our investment in agri-environment schemes and from our protected areas, and Relu research suggests that incentives for land managers to work together at landscape scale could help to achieve this. 

“But the problem in the past for this kind of approach in the UK has been that we don’t have an established tradition of farmers working co-operatively, as happens in some other European countries, so we need organisations that can be pathfinders.

“National Parks and AONBs are particularly well placed to do this.  They could play a key role in the formation and support of farmers’ groups and give a lead in developing landscape-scale initiatives.”

Relu has examined ways in which groups of farmers and landowners can work together to protect farmland birds, maximise carbon storage and protect water quality in a given area. The feasibility of such agri-environment schemes will be the subject of debate at the Northern Rural Network event on Wednesday (14^th September), where Relu will launch its policy note on landscape-scale cooperation amongst farmers.