Uncertain future for upland farms as Budget looms

A perilous future awaits hill farmers in some of England’s most isolated communities if public spending on agriculture is cut in this month’s Budget, says a leading charity.

Friends of the Lake District (FLD) issued the warning ahead of the government’s autumn spending review.

This is expected to see chancellor Rachel Reeves attempt to plug a £40bn shortfall in public finances.

The Lakeland landscape charity argues that the agricultural budget should be protected from cuts – and indeed increased – to reflect the wide range of services hill farmers provide to society, alongside food production.

Doubling the agricultural budget would do much more than incentivise nature-friendly farming, says FLD chief executive Michael Hill.

It would also recognise the value of upland agriculture to public health and wellbeing, recreation and cultural heritage.

“Nature is in crisis, we’re living through a climate emergency, and we know the health benefits of getting out in the countryside,” he says.

“Here in Cumbria, the answer to all those things lies with our farmers, because 75% of our county is farmed land.

Seize the opportunity

“In our letter (to the government), we’re urging Defra to seize the opportunity and deliver a budget that rewards upland hill farmers properly for the public benefits they provide, via simplified schemes which pay on time.”

The future of upland farming was a hot topic among visitors at this month’s Wasdale Head Show, held at the foot of England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike.

Livestock classes are traditionally at the heart of the show – with Herdwick sheep entries strictly limited to farmers from Wasdale and the adjoining valleys, including Ennerdale, Buttermere, Borrowdale and Eskdale.

But visitors come from far and wide, for the breathtaking landscape maintained by generations of farmers, and to see the Cumberland wrestling, trail hounds and one of England’s most challenging fell-running races.

Once a competition between farming families, the race starts in the show field and takes runners to the 2,631ft summit of Kirk Fell and then back down to the finish line.

The record stands at just over 30 minutes.

“We try to keep things going as much as we can,” says show secretary Mike Naylor, whose family have farmed in Wasdale for longer than most people can remember.

“It’s a great little family show, and we’ve got a really hard-working committee.”

But their way of life is under threat.

The phase-out of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in England, which many upland farmers rely upon to remain viable, threatens to deprive some producers of up to 90% of their income.

Traditional farming

At the same time, the replacement Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme has been slow to launch in the hills.

Many options are better suited to lowland arable units than grazing livestock in the uplands.

“Some of the ELM schemes don’t necessarily fit terribly well in the Lake District,” says Ennerdale sheep farmer Will Rawlings.

“They don’t lend themselves particularly well to traditional upland farming systems to generate a realistic financial return.”

Farm leaders estimate that Lakeland farmers face a £10m shortfall because the BPS is being phased out faster than new schemes are being phased in.

This was a point pressed home last month by NFU deputy president David Exwood.

“This is vital money that is not going back into the local economy, and also caring for the environment,” Mr Exwood told Defra officials who were on a fact-finding mission to the Lake District.

“Our upland farmers play an important role producing home-grown food while also being stewards of some of the country’s most cherished landscapes – they urgently need financial support to survive.”

Local MP and Liberal Democrat agriculture spokesman Tim Farron has also joined the charge.

In a parliamentary debate earlier this month, he accused the Labour government of pursuing policies which were disincentivising food production.

“This is the maddest thing I have heard myself say in this place,” Mr Farron told the House of Commons.

“It is a policy created by the Conservative party and that, for the time being at least, is being maintained by the party currently in power.”

He added: “We have a year-on-year reduction in the number of sheep in this country of 4.2%.

“If we destock the fells of animals, we will soon after destock the countryside of human beings. It is a deep threat to our ability to feed ourselves.”

Julia Aglionby, professor of practice at the University of Cumbria, says the lack of financial viability is being compounded by ongoing uncertainty over the future for upland farming – and the failure of support to keep pace with inflation.

Input costs have increased by 40% in recent years, and while sheep prices have gone up too, they have failed to offset that increase.

At the same time, the value of support payments has been eroded.

Undervalued

Many of the fells are in a Higher Level Stewardship option called “moorland restoration”.

The payment rate of £40/ha has remained unchanged since it was introduced in 2006. Allowing for inflation, it should be £81/ha.

“People are getting half of the value of what they were getting almost 20 years ago,” says Prof Aglionby.

“The problem is they can’t afford to pay themselves a living wage, so we have hill farmers living in poverty.”

Part of the pain could be eased a little if commons were treated on a par with other land, she adds.

Some 28% of the Lake District is common land – with 500 farmers dependent on it for their income.

Yet farmers still can’t apply for Defra’s extended Sustainable Farming Incentive offer if they are on a common. “We need to make sure there’s a parity so that all land can access the scheme.”

In a Westminster Hall debate last month, Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner acknowledged the importance of sheep farmers to rural communities, with some 150,000 jobs contributing to economic growth.

Mr Zeichner also underlined the government’s “full commitment” to Defra’s ELM schemes – and he accepted there was room for improvement.

“There is a spending review process going on and announcements will be made in due course, but our commitment to the agricultural transition to a different form of farming is absolute.

“We will be trying to improve those schemes.

“We will make sure that they produce the right outcomes for all farmers, including sheep farmers and the wider industry, and that they ensure food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable way.”