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Defra announces plans to replace current Hill Farm Allowance scheme

   

News release

Ref: 237/08
Date: 21 July 2008

Defra today unveiled how it plans to replace the current Hill Farm Allowance scheme.

From 2010, specific support to upland areas will be integrated into Environmental Stewardship schemes, to reward hill farmers for the environmental and landscape benefits they deliver. Uplands Entry Level Stewardship will be implemented by Natural England. Uplands ELS will be open to all upland farmers and land managers.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said,
 “The uplands are an immensely important part of our natural environment. Farmers and land managers play a critical role in managing these areas, particularly through extensive livestock grazing. We want the new strand of Environmental Stewardship to maintain and improve the biodiversity, natural resources, landscape and historical values of England’s uplands, and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation. That is why we will be providing support to the farmers and land managers who deliver these benefits.
“Large numbers of upland farmers and land managers are already delivering simple yet effective environmental management in the uplands. Uplands ELS will allow us to recognise this explicitly, and encourage others to take up the opportunity to play their part.”

Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive of Natural England said: "The uplands not only include some of the most rugged and beautiful landscapes in England, but are also vital for farmland birds and play a key role in providing clean water and mitigating flooding. The proposals in the Uplands Entry Level scheme have the potential for all upland farmers to safeguard the most important habitats on their farms and the cultural and landscape heritage that generations of farmers have helped create. In this way we are working with farmers and rural communities to safeguard the natural environment for generations to come."

  • A CLA statement welcomed the government’s commitment in ensuring that a scheme is available to farmers in Upland areas on the closure of the Hill Farm Allowance from 2010. They said;
  • “It is imperative that the new UELS scheme is available to all Upland farmers and allows sufficient flexibility for businesses to develop and help meet England’s food and environmental security challenge. The CLA looks forward to the continued engagement with Defra in the development of the UELS scheme.”

Since plans were announced in 2006 to replace the Hill Farm Allowance by integrating uplands support in to Environmental Stewardship, further  work has been carried out to ensure that an uplands strand of ELS would deliver the fullest environmental benefit. Defra has worked closely with Natural England and stakeholders in developing the proposals, including taking advice from a hill farmers’ panel.
The proposals for Uplands ELS are still be finalised, and will be further refined over the summer. As well as continuing to work with stakeholder organisations, Defra will be seeking views from the wider hill farming community, and testing the proposals on a range of 60 hill farms to ensure it is practical for the farmers involved and achieves its objectives.

Final proposals will be announced later this year.

Notes to Editors

1. Former Environment  Secretary David Miliband announced in December 2006 that Defra would end the Hill Farming Allowance after 2009, and would then provide uplands support through Environmental Stewardship from 2010.

2 . Uplands ELS will be available to all agricultural land in England’s “severely disadvantaged areas”. As a strand of ELS, farmers will obtain points counting towards their payment rate by meeting a series of essential requirements, and through selecting from a menu of land management options. One of the key requirements will be to maintain a minimum level of stock on moorland, in recognition of the importance of grazing on this land for the environment and landscape. There will also be specific requirements and guidance for commons, reflecting the benefits associated with the shared management of common land.
As well as Defra and Natural England, organisations involved in developing these proposals include the NFU, CLA, National Trust, RSPB, Tenant Farmers Association, FWAG, English National Parks Authorities Association and Environment Agency.

3.  Defra will be testing the practicality of the proposals on 60 farms across the English upland areas over the coming weeks. Testing areas are all the regions with uplands areas - Southwest, West Midlands, East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber, Northwest and Northeast. The farms selected for testing will cover all the uplands areas of these regions, for  example in the Southwest farms in Bodmin, Dartmoor and Exmoor will be visited.

4.  The replacement for the HFA was announced today in a speech by Hilary Benn to Natural Environment stakeholders at The London Wetland Center, Barnes.

End

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Page published: 21 July 2008