Countryside Stewardship

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme (CSS) and Organic Entry Level Scheme (OELS)

Background to these schemes

Every 10 years or so the government, through DEFRA, changes the names to the schemes that fund farmers to help the environment on their farms. Environmental Stewardship is a new agri-environment scheme which aims to secure widespread environmental benefits. The scheme is voluntary and has 3 elements:

• Entry Level Stewardship ( for chemical farmers ) 

• Organic Entry Level Stewardship (for organic farmers ) 

• Higher Level Stewardship ( West Town will hopefully join this scheme in 2 years time when the existing Countryside Stewardship Scheme contract comes to an end)

I have no idea why the word ‘entry’ is used except that it might be a term to describe the beginning of a gorgeous relationship with the environment.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme helps to conserve and improve the countryside. Under this scheme I am paid a set of grants. In return for this money I have to abide a set of rules and have targets to meet and adhere to each year. I follow farming methods that enhance the landscape, encourage wildlife and protect historical features as well as allow access to the farm for educational purposes.

The Organic Entry Level Scheme

The Organic Entry Level Scheme aims to encourage farmers such as myself to deliver simple yet effective environmental management and to maintain land in good agricultural and environmental condition. Why do we need these schemes?
The traditional English landscapes and features that we have become accustomed to are largely the result of farming over the last few hundred years. Features such as stone walls, hedgerows and barns were once very important to farmers and are now part of our heritage. Modern methods of farming are changing the landscape and some of these features are disappearing.
Traditional farming systems provide good conditions for a rich diversity of wildlife. Modern techniques have largely destroyed these conditions and have reduced the diversity of wildlife. Nowadays, we are aware of how farming shapes the countryside. We appreciate the wide variety of landscapes and the rich diversity of wildlife that live in them.
DEFRA and the Government through help from organisations such as the RSPB want to conserve and improve some of this heritage that is left. By conserving our countryside in this way, we not only help our wildlife, we also play our part in the international agreement to maintain the natural diversity of animals and plants throughout the world.

The Countryside Stewardship Scheme at West Town

In 1998 the RSPB was responsible for getting the CSS off the ground in this area of Devon. The RSPB and DEFRA with the assistance of West Town and 4 neighbouring farms could see that many of the following objectives could be achieved on many of those farms. Also they could see that there was a good chance that the ‘cirl bunting’ a declining species of bird could be protected. The Countryside Stewardship Scheme has four objectives pertaining to the landscape; wildlife; history/archaeology and access.
At West Town Farm this relates to:

• Landscape – hedges and hedgerow trees remaining strong visual features; restoring and managing the orchard and enhancing the unimproved grassland

• Wildlife – providing a wide range of optimum habitats for plants, animals, insects and birds. To enable them to survive and spread in hedges, trees, grassland, and arable land.

• History/archaeology – maintaining the historic feature of the orchard and the historic pattern of field boundaries and green lanes.

• Access – to allow schools and other educational groups to use the farm as a teaching resource

Organic Entry Level Scheme at West Town

The prescription for this strand of funding will cover the remaining areas of the farm that are not covered by the CSS. It is an acknowledgement that organic farming provides greater benefits to the land and the environment above and beyond that of ‘chemical farming’. The potential for pollution and other environmental damage is lessened by the use of practices embraced by organic farming. The Soil Association and other organisations have worked extremely hard over the last 10 years to get this to be recognised. Finally through the Policy Commission on Farming and Food (Jan 2002) led by Sir Don Curry these benefits were transmitted to Government.

The Future for all these aids and recognitions

It is strange that West Town is now taking part in all this. They are all in a way subsidies to put or return something to the land that has been taken away. There are quite a few things that are wrong with the present system of the way that food reaches our plates. The price that the consumer pays for their food is less than it should be. The supermarkets have exploited their control of the market place. Globalisation and the transportation of food around the world (especially air travel) in terms of use of a finite resource (oil) is unsustainable. Most producers have lost out. In the U.K 12 farmers and their families leave their farms for ever, every day. The producer has been forced to cut costs. These cost cuttings have resulted in unsustainable methods of farming, a decrease in standards of animal welfare and crop husbandry. Most of the world’s agricultural labour force is grossly underpaid. The economics in the world and food production are destined to be bad partners. A 2 tier system of food production has developed. One being the niche market with the real price being paid for the production of a quality product. The other being cheap food being produced in competition with other cheap products and the quality being driven down all the time. This has happened with milk both in conventional and organic market places. It still goes on .Farms are getting larger, herds of cows larger, and stress is greater on those animals. What is missing is the reality of the real cost of food. In terms of damage to the land, decrease in biodiversity, decrease in animal welfare standards, and degradation to the environment; this is the price we pay.. This is historical, dating back to 1947 and the Agriculture Acts that were put into place then. Nothing has really changed since then. We have all been responsible for this problem. The subsidies that farmers receive in Europe and the USA are really just sticking plaster over a problem. The price needs to be realistic in order to 

• keep the land in good heart, 

• maintain biodiversity, 

• maintain animal welfare standards and 

• provide a healthy environment, 

• to keep the whole agricultural infrastructure sustainable and 

• to keep farmers,  farmworkers and families on the land. 

It is possible that the production of food in the present model of economics is never going to be sustainable in terms of the planet that we live on.

What is the solution?

Buy local is the most important thing any consumer can do. Not just for food but everything. Buying organic is the next best thing to do.

Info+

Information on how Countryside Stewardship works

Find out about Organic Farming at West Town Farm.