Moorline Line move means good news for environment and farmers

The announcement that the Moorland Line will be introduced into Environmental Stewardship from today (Tues) is good news for both the environment and farmers, the NFU said.

The decision comes after a long campaign by the NFU. It means many farmers in Less Favoured Areas will now be able to choose from an increased range of Environmental Stewardship options, and receive increased payments, and more land will be brought under the protection of the scheme.

NFU Vice President Paul Temple said: "We have been trying to get the Moorland Line included in Environmental Stewardship for some time and are delighted with this news. With the loss of the Hill Farm Allowance for farmers with land in the Disadvantaged Area in January, the introduction of the new Moorland Line should enable many of these farmers to access a greater range of options and a greater level of financial reward under Environmental Stewardship to compensate."

Notes to editors:

There had been a discrepancy between the Moorland Line, which was remapped in February 2006 following representation from the NFU and is used as the payment boundary for the Single Payment Scheme, and the Less Favoured Area (LFA) boundary used for threshold calculations for Environmental Stewardship (ES). Bringing the Moorland Line into ES means many farmers who had been unable to access the wider range of ES lowland options available to farmers outside the LFA will now have an opportunity for a greater level of reward under ES.

The previous situation had been made worse by an arbitrary definition of moorland relying on field parcels in Less Favoured Areas being of 15 hectares or more, irrespective of whether these fields were moorland or not. This discrepancy has now been removed.