Select Committee on Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Written Evidence


Memorandum submitted by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) (Z03)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1.  LEAF sits on the steering committee of the Voluntary Initiative and has been involved in the subgroups.

  2.  LEAF supports the VI and we believe that the collaborative approach of the VI group has been successful.

  3.  LEAF has been involved in the development and promotion of Integrated Farm Management over the last 13 years and the principles of encouraging a voluntary approach to progress environmental improvement and change have been at the heart of our objectives. LEAF has just completed a report demonstrating environmental improvement from farmers adopting best practice voluntarily over the last 10 years and delivering meaningful change.

  4.  LEAF believes that the VI is a success within the constraints of time and political complexities that the industry faces. There is a significant level of understanding and ownership among the industry and in the arable sector in particular.

  5.  LEAF is involved with other EU Member States in the encouragement of best practice through the adoption of Integrated Farm Management. In particular this relates to issues such as crop protection, soil management, organisation and planning and biodiversity.

  6.  LEAF's submission brings together comments from farmers who are involved in the Voluntary Initiative and other experiences among the industry.

INTRODUCTION

  When LEAF started in 1991 the principles behind our activities were geared towards a whole farm approach and encouraging good attention through better risk of management—Integrated Farm Management. Naturally this has included the protection of habitats and the enhancement of wildlife potential on farms, alongside better resource management and protection. LEAF now has some 70 demonstration sites and 2,000 members representing 10% of the cropped area. At the heart of the Integrated Farm Management approach is crop protection and advice offering many benefits for consumers, the environment and farmers, below are some examples of IFM best practice:

    —  Responsible methods of producing quality, safe, affordable food.

    —  Improved farming and environmental protection.

    —  Maintaining and enhancing the use and value of key resources such as staff, soil, water, air, wildlife habitats and landscape, capital and machinery.

    —  Regular monitoring.

    —  Targeting the use of agrochemicals, medicines and fertilisers only when necessary, saving farmers money and reducing risk to the environment.

    —  Maintaining and enhancing the wildlife value and character of the countryside and landscape.

    —  Meeting the needs of the market place by establishing and using an accurate system of records and procedures to ensure informed decisions, traceability and accountability.

    —  Reducing the risk of pollution incidents by identifying sensitive field areas and categories of risk (ie no spreading, very high, high risk and lower risk), and adjusting or avoiding the application of inputs on these areas.

    —  Ensuring farm staff are fully trained to understand and implement IFM principles and enjoy the job satisfaction in achieving these principles.

    —  Building up public confidence.

      It is important to note that perhaps while the Voluntary Initiative has not gone as far as embracing the whole farm approach, the principles of Integrated Farm Management and its aim to reduce the level of pesticides in water and improve the precision of pesticide use are inherent. LEAF supports the success of the VI in addressing these areas, through a mixture of activities such as the development of crop protection management plans, sprayer testing and farmer training. Alongside this has been some interesting and again successful activities seeking more detailed information and supporting evidence particularly from catchments. We believe that these activities and a collaborative approach of the VI group has been successful. However, in terms of environmental improvement issues this is a difficult area to assess. There are many drivers that contribute to change on the ground and the compound effect of the collaborative approach should not be underestimated. Furthermore, it is through working together that these many initiatives create the impetus for improved best practice. To bring together some of the general thoughts from farmers and others, there is a consensus that:

    —  It would be fair to say in terms of farmer perception that there was a sticky start with many saying there will be a tax anyway, however, more and more have quickly come round to understanding and supporting the VI.

    —  The VI has now been widely accepted, especially in the arable sector and it has been useful to recognise and improve the professionalism of sprayer operators.

    —  There are concerns about gaining CPD points in terms of activities to get the points and also the fear that they may haunt us in the future. The mechanism for recording these needs to be improved.

    —  The sprayer testing has given some genuine improvements

    —  More and more buffer strips are being delivered which is good practice.

  It is evident that there are some specific, on the ground practical issues, which are resulting in change of practice for an improved environment.

  There is also a joined-up approach with the activities recognising those farmers who are already carrying out best practice. For example, if a farmer is carrying out the LEAF Audit they will have an exemption from carrying out a crop protection management plan. This is important for many farmers who are frustrated by the increasing level of bureaucracy. Added to this LEAF was contracted by the VI and the Crop Protection Association (CPA) to carry out a study looking into the last 10 years of trends in the LEAF Audit and any meaningful change. The executive summary is attached below.

  We think it is important that we look to some of the key strengths of the very many of groups, thoughts and philosophies around the world in reducing the impact of pesticides. The Voluntary approach is meaningful in that it creates a stronger ownership and understanding of the issues and works closely with stakeholders who have close working relationships with farmers to ensure they have their messages right. A tax will not serve to improve environmental performance and would not have the focus of goodwill and the belief in improving the environment because you want to, not because you have to.

  What is critical is the partnership approach the Voluntary Initiative is based on and we would propose that government seriously look at what has been achieved in a very short time. There is more to be done to achieve the targets and we are aware of an ambitious element of expectation of meeting quantifiable environmental targets and we believe we should be cautious in this area and not too ambitious. Farmers are not averse to change but raising awareness of the benefits of change takes time. Seeing benefits in action from others who have implemented change is key and the value of demonstration farms is essential for knowledge transfer.

  The impact of pesticides can be reduced through good attention to detail and the creation and enhancement of habitats is a critical part to improving biodiversity as part of a whole farm approach.

  We believe that more time should be put into developing best practice examples and in particular utilising work that is already happening on the ground. Such as the key messages promoted through LEAF demonstration farms. We also believe that the advisory services have a very important role to play and indeed the advisory services have been a key part in encouraging the uptake of the Voluntary Initiative among farmers.

  While there has been a good uptake and rapid acceptance of the Voluntary Initiative among arable farmers there is still progress to be made ie, the livestock sector.

CONCLUSION

  We believe that the Voluntary Initiative is a success and there is a significant level of understanding and ownership among the industry and the arable sector in particular. With a background of new processes and decisions facing the industry; namely the CAP reform, regionalisation and new directives, the development of the Voluntary Initiative is important, particularly the partnership and collaboration it promotes.

MEASURING CHANGE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENT ON FARM OVER 10 YEARS DEMONSTRATED BY ANALYSIS OF THE LEAF AUDIT DATA

  To support the work of the Voluntary Initiative (VI), the Crop Protection Association (CPA) commissioned LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) to analyse the LEAF Audit data to establish if it was possible to demonstrate meaningful environmental change from farmers carrying out best practice on farm.

  Data from the LEAF Audit demonstrates how some farmers have voluntarily adopted best practice over time across the whole farm and provides an opportunity to relate findings to the work of the Voluntary Initiative. The report shows that changing behaviour on farm can be measured using the framework of the LEAF Audit. The LEAF Audit helps the farmer set targets for action and benchmarks for business, environmental and resource management improvement across the whole farm.

  The report illustrates that while farmers are getting ready to adapt to a new approach to legislation introduced in the Mid Term Review and supporting measures in the Voluntary Initiative, this flexibility to change has been underway for a number of years. The results are especially meaningful as they are based on decisions and changes made on practical working farms. The changes on farm achieved by the LEAF Audit process demonstrate that action plans such as the Crop Protection Management Plan (CPMP) stimulate change and encourage environmental improvement. This is seen by the fact that 80% of farmers conducting the LEAF Audit have a positive policy for managing wildlife and landscape features.

  This report focuses on those areas relevant to the VI, that is: crop protection, crop health and biodiversity. However, the LEAF Audit covers the whole farm, and comparisons of change in other aspects of farming practice may also be possible although not covered in this report.

  The key finding from the analysis is that thoughtful management by farmers and self-assessment through the LEAF Audit can deliver improved practice on farm. Responses to the LEAF Audit question "We consider cropping practices which encourage biodiversity" shows a steady increase in the number of farmers responding positively from 45% in 1994 to 70% in 2002. Clearly farmer priorities are shifting to greater care for the environment. On farm this change can be seen at the Manydown Company Ltd where the introduction of Lapwing squares has resulted in an increase from four Lapwing pairs in 2002 to 18 in 2004.

  The importance of managing specific habitats for wildlife improvement can also be seen in the performance of other farms investigated for this report. Using uncropped strips to protect hedgerows and water courses from field operations has increased from 40% in 1997 to 65% in 2002. This type of activity together with the use of conservation management and the adoption of Integrated Farm Management (IFM) has resulted in the dramatic increase in partridge pairs from 10 pairs in spring 2002 to 56 in spring 2003 on Sir Richard Sutton Settled estates. Demonstrating again how following best practice can deliver a better environment for wildlife.

  Farmers who have completed the LEAF audit have shown consistent, meaningful improvement and aspire to follow best practice. The sample set of farmers demonstrate this commitment. Some show early commitment through the higher percentages and others a gradual trend to adopting best practice. This aspiration for best practice is down to the level of awareness of the strengths, opportunities and potential of the farm and the key areas for improvement which the LEAF Audit helps farmers identify each year.

  An interesting trend was recognised in farmers responding in an over optimistic manner in the first year and being more realistic with their responses in the second and improving thereafter. It will be interesting to observe whether this behaviour can be detected in the analysis of the CPMP results.

  The common themes of the Voluntary Initiative, education, training, management, action, planning, innovation, identifying areas for improvement, best practice, attention to detail and risk management are all embodied in the principles of IFM which LEAF farmers have been demonstrating voluntarily through the LEAF Audit since 1994.

  This report illustrates that with the correct management tools, farmers can identify their own journey of change and improvement and manage it at a meaningful pace for their business and benchmark themselves year on year and against others.

8 October 2004





 
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