Green farming schemes in Cambridgeshire reaping benefits after 21 years

This summer, Cambridgeshire celebrates 21 years of green farming which has seen local farmers make a huge difference to wildlife and the landscape.

The agri-environment schemes, which will be given nearly #3billion over the next five years, have seen an increase in access to the countryside, more wildlife and biodiversity, and greater maintenance of essential features of the British countryside such as stone walls and hedgerows.

Cambridgeshire has over 824 agreements, covering approximately 69,000 hectares in agri-environment schemes.

Examples of projects achieved in Cambridgeshire in the last year are:

* 20 bridleways

* 20 farms offering educational access visits

* 43 footpaths (and 2 routes for less mobile users)

* 20 hedgerows

* 1 stone wall

* 82 sites of regenerated grassland

Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for the Environment said: "Over the last 21 years, farmers in Cambridgeshire have been managing the land to enhance the beauty of the English landscape and conserve and protect our much-loved native wildlife. The English countryside doesn't look the way it does by accident, and all of us benefit from the footpaths, bridleways, orchard planting and hedgerow restoring which farmers carry out on our behalf through agri-environment schemes. Farmers deserve recognition and our thanks for what they have achieved. Over the next five years, the Government will invest almost #3billion in these schemes. We are absolutely committed to seeing this great work continue."

Defra and Natural England are celebrating the success of these pioneering green farming schemes to highlight the significant contribution they make to the conservation and protection of some of England's most important landscapes and habitats.

Agri-environment schemes work by providing Government-funded financial support to farmers to manage and conserve the land with a focus on 'green farming' such as creating habitats for wildlife and to protect the English landscape.

Sir Martin Doughty, Natural England chair, said: "Green farming schemes have resulted in some great success stories for wildlife and the health of our countryside over the past 21 years. These schemes not only make a major contribution to the UK's commitments on farmland birds but they also help bring Sites of Special Scientific Interest into favourable condition. Natural England will continue its efforts to improve these schemes to find incentives that land managers buy into and farmers find attractive to bring more land into these agreements."

Over 35,000 Environmental Stewardship agreements covering more than five million hectares of land in England, an area roughly twice the size of Wales, are now in place (together with 20,000 remaining classic scheme agreements covering a further 1 million hectares).

The schemes have achieved:

* 30,000km of restored or newly planted hedgerows - that's about the distance from the North Pole to the South Pole and halfway back again (with a further 90,000 km of existing hedgerows being managed in an environmentally friendly way)

* 2,600km of dry stone walls

* Increases in numbers of rare birds such as the grey partridge, stone curlew and cirl bunting

* 800 farms offering educational visits to more than 100,000 schoolchildren per year, and other visits for special interest groups.