Marginal Benefit

We have had the farm and all of our environmental features and habitats surveyed by Natural England over the last two months.  We were selected for one of the spot checks to ensure that we are abiding by the rules of our Countryside Stewardship agreement. 

This surveying is a fairly major undertaking, it was all done using a measuring wheel.  The lady who did it was extremely considerate and practical in her approach to the job but had to make six visits to complete the job. 

We had a problem with the field margins on one field that we had rented out to another grower.  They were standing boxes on the margins when the inspection took place and the field was disqualified.  We had allowed a reasonable margin for error by installing 15% more environmental features than we required for ELS, thank goodness.  My theory was that some would not be successful habitats. I had also failed to count a few eligible grass buffer strips so it all worked out just fine.

I'm pleased that we entered the scheme when we signed up for LEAF Marque.  I'm not convinced that it has transformed the bio-diversity of the farm yet, but it has started that learning process.

I am fully supportive of the Campaign for the Farmed Environment, of course, but I'm jolly pleased that we are a step ahead of it.  My primary focus for 2010 has to be the commercial well-being of our business and it would have been a distraction that we can well do without at the moment.

I'll tell you one thing.  We always seem to be the farm that is selected for "spot checks."  We were also in the percentage that had our accounts checked by the HDC.  I'm not sure why this is.  My handwriting is reasonably good and I usually draw neat maps so maybe people think that we will be an easy touch.