TFA gives evidence to Uplands Enquiry
The Tenant Farmers Association has given oral evidence to the Commission for Rural Communities as part of its Inquiry into the Future for England’s Upland Communities at an evidence session in Penrith following up on the TFA’s previously submitted written evidence.
The TFA’s upland spokesman and TFA Councillor Mike Keeble who, attended the evidence session said "This Inquiry could make a major difference to the uplands across the country. The Commissioners have been left in little doubt about the falling numbers of grazing livestock and the effect this is having on the landscape and on upland communities. The reasons for the drop are mostly economic including the fact that the Single Payment Scheme reflects the stocking levels of the past without requiring any level of stock to be kept in order to claim the payments. The move to a flat rate payment by 2012 will exacerbate this. The added incentive provided by agri-environment schemes to lower stocking in many cases is also pushing ruminants off the fells, dales and hills".
"For the tenant farmer these animals are the resource that pay the rent and provide the means for the family to make a living. The SPS horizon extends only to 2012 and while there is talk of what will happen beyond that date, the indications are that we will see further environmentally linked schemes like the current crop of those within Environmental Stewardship. These, at the moment, do not make a profit nor do they pay the rent for they deal with the capital element of the land under an environmental cloak. While they restrict production they provide for items that reflect on the value of the land in which the tenant farmer, who does not own the land, has no interest," said Mr Keeble.
"Redundant stone barns are a classic example. They have no use to the modern farmer, but they are repaired by grants and gradually they will be developed for housing or bunk barns with the benefits accruing to the landowner or owner occupier. Stone walls, hard wood planting, heather regeneration, pools, ponds and scrapes are just a few examples that either increase property or sporting values but do little or nothing for returns to the tenant farmer", said Mr Keeble.
"It is also important to look closely at the marketing of red meat to ensure that a viable return for upland farmers can be maintained. It is essential that upland producers are able to acquire more of the value added from their stock. However, particularly in the north of England, valiant attempts to start up farmer run, cooperative marketing schemes in the wake of the 2001 foot and mouth disease outbreak have struggled in the face of the heavy competition from a belt of large Irish companies operating from the Humber to the Mersey who have driven returns down. The future of upland farming and the communities which rely upon it requires that upland farmers receive a fair return from the market place which currently is not happening" said Mr Keeble.
