| Re: Farmers
Hey Fourwings
Have you joined up to the ELS or HLS?
I live in the mainly arable, intensively farmed area of East Yorkshire called Holderness (I work for an agric machinery dealer). When I first moved out here from Hull about 18 years ago, there was not much in the way of hedges or anything apart from fields full of cereals! East Yorkshire is one of the areas of the British Isles with the least trees! Now, mainly because of the environmental stewardship scheme (or ESS, as it first started out as) I've started seeing more new hedgerows and conditions better suited to wildlife. As a result, when I go out I can now see barn owls, hares, skylarks, grey partridges and other species that were once rare in this part of the country. One of the farms just down the road from me is a 'beacon farm' for the ESS, having started the scheme in 1988. It's now a nature lovers paradise! It also helps that a disused railway line runs past the farm, providing a corridor for the wildlife.
Ok, most of the farmers are applying for the scheme for the monetary benefits more than for a love of nature. I was informed by a farmer friend that he was getting paid more for a lark plot (where they leave bare patches of 4 x 4m when sowing the field. This benefits larks and other birds by providing them with a 'feeding patch' and nesting area among the growing crop) than he was for a ton of grain! However, who cares if it's working!
The only thing I worry about is if a future government decides that intensive farming is once again the 'in thing' and scraps the ELS. I guess we will have to cross that bridge when it comes to it and make the most of what we have now.
Sorry I've rambled on .... a subject near to my heart as you can see! lol.  |