English farmers are being urged to show how they alter the
countryside.
Some 5000 farmers are being contacted by
DEFRA in a bid to ascertain the
amount of environmental work carried out on farms.
The postal survey is being conducted as part of the industry-led
Campaign for the Farmed
Environment.
It aims to establish the level of voluntary environmental
management in place on farms at the beginning of the campaign.
"Information will be used to determine the level of voluntary
activity already being carried out," said campaign co-ordinator
Corrina Gibbs.
Progress will then be monitored annually as the campaign seeks
to encourage the uptake of additional on-farm environmental
measures.
Producers are being encouraged to adopt management practices
that retain the environmental benefits once provided by
set-aside.
Land management practices that benefit the environment are being
promoted under three key themes.
These themes seek to increase farmland bird populations, enhance
farm wildlife and protect resources such as soil and water.
To be successful, the campaign must meet ambitious targets
agreed between farm leaders and the government.
Over the next three years, farmers must double the area of key
in-field options under entry-level stewardship to 80,000ha.
They must also retain the area of uncropped land (179,000ha) and
increase the area of voluntarily managed land by 30,000ha.
If the campaign fails, the government will consider a regulatory
approach.
This could see cross-compliance tightened and farmers forced to
place a proportion of productive farmland under environmental
management.
The baseline questionnaire, which also asks farmers whether they
are aware of the campaign, is being sent to English producers with
cultivated land.
Farmers have until the end of the month to respond to the
survey.