22/02/12…..Countryside campaigners set out new vision for farming

A new survey by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has found that over four out of five British adults (84 per cent) believe that farmers have a responsibility to look after the landscape and wildlife for future generations.

The countryside charity has also published its own Vision for the future of Farming, which outlines the changes to farming practices and agricultural policy it would like to see by 2026.

Farming has a major impact on the Oxfordshire landscape, with nearly 200 farms across the county and a total of 78% of the land in Oxfordshire under agricultural management.

The CPRE survey has found that fewer than a fifth of British adults (17 per cent) would accept a more industrialised farming sector and an overwhelming 78 per cent of people want farmers to get more support to carry out environmentally sustainable farming practices.

Helen Marshall, Director of CPRE Oxfordshire, says: ?It?s great to see that people clearly want the environmentally sustainable future for farming set out in our vision. There are huge challenges, including growing populations, increasing demand for land and natural resources, and pressures due to climate change. But we must find ways to cope with these challenges if we are to secure a living, thriving rural landscape.

?The Government, farmers, the food industry and environmental organisations will need to work together over the coming years to ensure that the public?s aspirations are realised.?

In its farming vision, CPRE looks to a future when:

Farmers who adopt new environmental sustainability standards benefit from a price premium that recognises the additional environmental measures they are taking, for example creating wildlife habitats.

Fairer milk prices for dairy farmers help to reverse the decline in traditional, pasture-based dairy farms, and make them more profitable helping to maintain much loved landscapes.

There is a massive increase in the number of community-based horticultural enterprises supplying local vegetables, salad and fruit, strengthening local food webs.

Polytunnels for growing fruit and vegetables have become much less contentious after being brought into a planning system which controls their cumulative impacts on the landscape.

Most pigs and poultry are free range and reared outdoors, which is what the majority of consumers demand.

Farmers in upland areas have capitalised on the environmental and cultural services these areas provide by, for example, managing water and soils sustainably and creating beautiful landscapes.

Nearly all farms in England are producing renewable energy through sensitively designed and located small-scale schemes, such as anaerobic digestion plants which generate energy from farm waste.

SOURCE: Contributed