Are you a secret supporter of the CFE?

Farmers and land managers could already be supporting the Campaign for the Farmed Environment (CFE) without knowing it because many management practices commonly undertaken on farm count towards it.

The Campaign has 15 voluntary measures ranging from grass buffer strips to overwintered stubbles retained until February 14, which provide easy options for farms to support the Campaign. Management just has to meet the essential requirements of a chosen voluntary measure to count.

Farmers and land managers are being urged to compare their current options with the essential management requirements of the Campaign’s voluntary measures to see whether they are secretly supporting the Campaign.

Victoria Hicks, CFE national programme coordinator said: ’We need farmers to stand up and be counted for the management practices they perhaps don’t realise are part of the Campaign. You could have planted wild bird seed or be using one application of herbicide in the spring, as long as these meet the essential management requirements then you are already a CFE supporter.

’But don’t keep it a secret ’ tell us what and how much land you are managing outside of agri-environment scheme options by using the CFE online record to make it count.’

FWAG’s technical director Jim Egan said: ’Many farmers don’t realise that existing practices on their farms can count as positive contributions to the Campaign. Game strips that don’t contain maize or giant sorghum are a common practice across farmland that meets the CFE requirements. Sometimes, just a small tweak is needed to adjust the land management so it supports the CFE.’

While there are no fixed percentages to participate in the Campaign, if every farm puts 3-4 per cent of arable area into key target options in Campaign voluntary measures or in combination with Entry Level Stewardship (ELS), the CFE will succeed.