Norfolk farmer among first to join green farming scheme

A Norfolk farmer is amongst the first in England to sign up to Defra's new Environmental Stewardship Scheme.

Rob Martin of River Meadow Farm near Downham Market has signed up to Entry Level Stewardship (ELS), a scheme which aims to encourage farmers and landowners to deliver simple but effective environmental management to maintain the countryside, encourage wildlife and protect the historic environment. The first agreements started on August 1st.

Mr Martin has been maintaining his farm with environmental benefits in mind for several years under two Countryside Stewardship Scheme

(CSS) agreements. He said:

"I'm very encouraged by these new initiatives which aim to maintain and enhance the environment, and at the same time, keep farming financially viable. Most of my permanent grassland, which is rich in wild plants and birds as well as having ancient earthworks on it, is already managed under CSS. I have also created six metre grass margins around my fields, which provide corridors for wildlife, and planted new hedges.

"By adding to this work, I have been able to earn sufficient points to enter the new ELS scheme. In the future I am aiming to enter into a Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement, which will bring together all the environmental management work as part of a whole farm approach."

Matt Jones, an adviser for the Rural Development Service in the East of England, said:

"This is an exciting new development in agri-environment schemes, and it is great that the first Entry Level Stewardship agreements are now being put in place. With the expected high uptake, it is anticipated that everyone will see changes for the better across the English countryside."

He added :

"I am looking forward to working with Rob, and other land owners and managers across the county, putting together whole farm Higher Level Stewardship agreements."

Over 100,000 hectares of land in the East of England have now been entered into conditional agreements under Entry Level Stewardship. To put this in context, in 2004 there were in excess of 33,000 hectares of land under Countryside Stewardship Scheme agreements and around 49,000 hectares in the Environmentally Sensitive Areas Schemes.