Dartmoor farmers reject overgrazing claims in MPs’ evidence

More than 40 Dartmoor farmers and graziers have urged MPs to reject claims that livestock are responsible for environmental decline on the moor, warning that further restrictions on grazing could harm farming businesses and rural communities.

Dartmoor farmers took their concerns directly to Defra farming minister Stephen Morgan, local MP Sir Geoffrey Cox and NFU vice-president Robyn Munt when they visited the moor today (Monday 21 September) for talks on its future.

In evidence submitted earlier to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee, Devon hill farmers Anton Coaker and John Shears, backed by dozens of fellow graziers, say livestock are being made a scapegoat for wider environmental challenges.

See also: Dartmoor ponies removed from stocking rate calculations

The submission (opens in PDF), published as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry on Land Use and Nature, rejects what the farmers describe as an increasingly influential rewilding / “overgrazing” narrative.

“As a hill/livestock farming community, we’re feeling the burden of constant attack by the noisy minority of ‘rewilding’ special interest groups and individuals,” the submission states.

Hill farmers ‘demonised’

It cites campaigners including George Monbiot and argues that hill farmers have been unfairly “demonised”, claiming the narrative has become so influential that “individuals within Natural England and other government departments are now acolytes of the ideology”.

The farmers say grazing by sheep, cattle and ponies helps manage vegetation and prevent the spread of coarse species including gorse and Molinia, or purple moor grass.

The submission also raises concerns about peatland restoration, tree planting, methane reduction policies and species reintroductions, warning that measures imposed without farmer support could undermine food production and environmental outcomes.

Natural England, however, has previously said many of Dartmoor’s protected sites remain in “unfavourable” condition, with overgrazing, undergrazing, peat cutting, drainage and burning all contributing to habitat decline.

In July, then Defra secretary Emma Reynolds said there was “broad agreement” that grazing approaches needed to change, with grazing more widely distributed rather than concentrated on protected sites.

She asked the Dartmoor Land Use Management Group (DLUMG), chaired by Phil Stocker, to develop a Dartmoor-wide framework for grazing, while saying Natural England should approach proposed changes sensitively as further evidence was gathered.

Ponies recognition

The debate has become particularly contentious around Dartmoor’s Environmental Land Management (ELM) agreements. In July, the government removed Dartmoor ponies from stocking-rate calculations in new ELM agreements, recognising their role as conservation grazers.

While farmers welcomed the move, they remain concerned that further restrictions on sheep grazing could be introduced. Commoners fear Natural England will seek additional reductions in flock numbers on the moor.

Mr Coaker, who farms at Sherberton Farm, Princetown, told Farmers Weekly: “We have had to reduce our stock massively, so animals are concentrated in the areas they prefer to be.

“The animals then overgraze those areas, while 90% of the moor receives little or no grazing. The rest becomes a jungle, with vegetation chest high in places.”