Scotland: National Rural Network
A team of experts led by the Universities of Aberdeen and Leeds is calling on the government to financially reward farmers to manage upland areas in a way that will protect them for the future. New recommendations from the Sustainable Uplands project would see farmers rewarded for producing things like clean water and carbon storage, in addition to food.
The uplands, which include much of Scotland, the Cumbrian fells and parts of the Pennines are the source of 70 percent of the UK's drinking water and are the single largest carbon reserve in the UK.
Professor Joseph Holden of the University of Leeds, co-leader of the Sustainable Uplands project, said: "The uplands are not just barren patches of wilderness, they are highly-managed landscapes that many people in the UK depend on for their livelihoods.
"Most current payments to upland farmers are based on the area of land they hold rather than what they're using it for. But society needs people managing the hills to protect water supplies and unique wildlife, and to keep carbon locked in peat soils."
The researchers used computer models to show what effect different types of land management would have on the landscape. They found that some types of land use may produce certain benefits at the expense of others. For example, practices designed to produce more food or store carbon might compromise clean water supplies or biodiversity.
Dr Mark Reed from the University of Aberdeen, co-leader of the project, said: "This isn't about new funding - it's about using existing money more effectively. We're currently talking to the policy community and land owners and managers about how we could use current funding to produce a much wider range of goods and services from the countryside.
"This may involve paying bonuses to people who join together to do things at a landscape scale, for example to reduce flood risk or create new wildlife habitats."
The recommendations appear in the Policy and Practice Note 'Sustainable Uplands: re-shaping land use policy for our hills', which you can download from our documents library.
If you're interested in the future of land use in Scotland, you can help shape the draft of the country's first Land Use Strategy by attending a public meeting or commenting on the Land Use Strategy website. You can get more information in Have your say on Land Use Strategy.
Do you agree that farmers should be paid to protect our upland areas? What benefits do you think this would have? Or do you disagree with the recommendations from the Sustainable Uplands project? You can have your say by adding a comment to this article.
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Comments
How weary those few hill
How weary those few hill farmers left on our hills will be, when they read yet another, no doubt costly academic report, confirming what to the landmanager has always been obvious.
Those involved at the coal face of land management, may well recognise and agree with much of what is recommended in the report but wonder at its late arrival. The CAP reform train, has already left the station. As always, whilst driven firmly by the EU engine we enjoy many stops for passenger interest at stakeholder meetings on Pack, Land Use Strategy and Rural Development in general in the hope that our voice will be heard and find common cause for influence amongst some of the EU27.
Do we think this report will add any more value to the UK decision making on the eventual outcome? The UK prioritises the environment over food production. We have a dwindling CAP budget, global food challenges and climate change to tackle.
It would be interesting to see studies on what the taxpayer thinks farmers should deliver in the way of "public benefit".