Increasing interest and positive actions from our farmers
Since we launched our Farmers Network last year the level of interest in how farmers can make a positive contribution to the environmental health of their land and our river has been growing.
On Thursday 8 January, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds MP announced a three year extension of DEFRA’S Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) Programme, to March 2029.
Protected Landscapes (our National Parks and National Landscapes) are special and unique places. They are living, working landscapes that also support a huge range of habitats and species. They are enjoyed by millions of people every year. By supporting farmers, land managers and people who live and work in these areas, we can help protect these exceptional places and support local communities.
WATER has been guiding farmers to environmental improvements and funding
On behalf of farmers in the catchment, WATER successfully bid for and received funding from FiPL to pay for a specialist farm advisor, Julia Bastone of 5 Farm Consulting, to visit 20 farms in the Erme catchment. These farms represented almost half of the catchment’s farmed land (excluding the common land). The aim of the visits was not just to signpost farmers to different funding schemes, but to identify specific sustainable, nature-based solutions and interventions; projects that would benefit things like biodiversity and water quality, while supporting the business aspect of the farms.
Historically, these farm visits have all too often ended with just identifying possible projects. This left farmers trying to find the funding themselves. The difference with WATER’s approach is that we proactively help both find and apply for the funding as well as identifying help for the actual installations. This ensures the environmental projects FiPL identify actually get carried out on the farms and don’t just get left in a report on the shelf.
Environmental Projects worth £800,00 have been identified
We have encouraged and supported farmers to identify projects that would improve the ecology, habitat, biodiversity and soil health of their land. With WATER’s support, projects worth £800,000 have already been identified with some funding already being applied for. Many of these projects have positive long term benefits for the Erme.
What the grants pay for
Through the FiPL programme, farmers and land managers can be financially supported to carry out projects that support nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and cultural heritage, or support nature-friendly, sustainable farm businesses. This is a programme of funding for one-off projects covering these areas of work, not an agri-environment scheme.
Locally, programmes support activity on any land within the South Devon National Landscape and the Dartmoor National Park (each part of the Erme’s catchment). Most of the funding will probably be provided to projects within the National Landscape boundaries.
Some of the outcomes that projects need to deliver
The Farming in Protected Landscapes Programme will pay for projects that are value for money and meet a number of outcomes which include:
- More carbon is stored and/or sequestered
- Flood risk is reduced
- The landscape is more resilient to climate change
- There is a greater area of habitat improved for biodiversity
- There is an increase in biodiversity
- There is greater connectivity between habitats
- Existing habitat is better managed
- There are more opportunities for people to explore, enjoy and understand the landscape
- Farmers and land managers feel increasingly comfortable with providing public benefits
Projects must also help to deliver at least one of the objectives of the South Devon National Landscape Management Plan. Details of these objectives can be found at National Landscape Management Plan.
FiPL, CSF and WATER – working together brings success
Much of the success of this scheme comes from the enthusiastic engagement of FiPL’s Alice Wyness, South Devon National Landscape Officer, and Catchment Sensitive Farming’s Jasmine Pearson as well as farm advisor Julia Bastone, all of whom are well respected by farmers in the catchment and who encouraged them to attend our networking events to hear about the FiPL opportunities and WATER’s commitment to supporting them.
