CLA lobbying wins secure payments for Upland farmers

The Secretary of State has announced detailed proposals for Uplands Entry Level Stewardship (UELS) the new scheme that will replace Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) from 2010.

Following the announcement CLA President Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: "Although UELS will not solve all the problems being faced by our Upland areas, the CLA is delighted the Government has committed to rewarding land managers for the delivery of the unique Upland countryside and its associated environmental benefits.

"The continuation of HFA into 2010 along with the introduction of UELS will allow hill farmers to plan ahead and maintain this crucial cash flow into their businesses and is to be welcomed as are the transitional arrangements for early adopters of ’classic’ agri-environment schemes who would have otherwise been severely penalised for their good work.

"The CLA has been lobbying tirelessly to ensure the new scheme offers the greatest level of flexibility for hill farming systems through the inclusion of a wide range of options in addition to those available under Entry Level Stewardship (ELS). The CLA also argued that farmers should be financially rewarded under the scheme for every environmental good produced and were successful in ensuring a payment cap and taper such as under the old HFA scheme was dropped."

The CLA President added: "Whilst we are delighted that Defra has acted on many of our recommendations concerning technical details of the scheme such as by allowing the use of ring feeders on moorland areas, we are disappointed that some compulsory requirements remain such as the 6 metre no-input/supplementary feeding buffer strips on the in-bye areas of Hill Farms as we feel this could compromise the viability of some of these areas. "