Lake District farmers oppose destocking threat

Lake District farmers are taking a defiant stance against a proposed nature improvement scheme covering 50,000ha of the Lake District National Park, which they fear could lead to a new wave of destocking of fell flocks.

While park officials sought to allay farmers’ concerns over the impact of the scheme, a group of farmers said it was gathering support to launch a vigorous campaign to defend further threats to traditional fell farming.

When Farmers Weekly spoke to the farmer co-ordinating the campaign, he was reluctant to disclose what action would be taken but confirmed an announcement would be made within the next week.

The scheme is part of the government’s White Paper on the Natural Environment which will select 12 pilot areas across the UK to become part of a three-year plan to improve the natural environment. Two key fell farming areas of the Lake District – Bassenthwaite and Ullswater – are now on the scheme’s shortlist.

Andrew Herbert, based at the LDNP headquarters in Kendal, said he expected farmers would benefit from the scheme. “Everything has happened very quickly and farmers may not have fully understood what this is about. We want to look at new ways of achieving sustainable farm businesses and find ways of working with farmers to achieve better value from agri-environmental schemes.

“This would be a voluntary scheme and nothing would be imposed on farmers,” said Mr Herbert, who added it was worth £7.5m in total. If it was selected, the LDNP would be allocated about £600,000 over three years.

The LDNP recently issued a statement of support for farming but it met with a mixed response following the park’s support for continued destocking – a situation described as “draconian” by many farmers and which has attracted criticism from National Sheep Association chairman and Cumbria farmer John Geldard.

The LDNP has already canvassed opinions from the NFU and the Federation of Cumbria Commoners, but Richard Potts, North West NFU’s environment adviser, said he had already set up a “farmers’ forum” – comprising a group of prominent Lake District farmers – to discuss the likely implications of even more “greening” recommendations.

“Any proposals evaluating eco-systems must consider the impact on the whole farm business and its continued viability,” said Mr Potts.

“Farmers are extremely concerned about the number of sheep that have already been taken out of the Lake District and are aware of the LDNP’s support for further destocking. Farmers need to be fully aware of the implications of any new environmental proposals that could emerge from this scheme.”

An open meeting of farmers is being planned to widen awareness and open discussion on the proposed scheme.