Poor Uptake of Upland Support Scheme for Hill Farmers

In early 2010 DEFRA launched the new Upland Support scheme for hill farmer’s, which is to replace Hill Farm Allowance. The scheme will reward farmers for adopting and continuing to practice environmentally friendly farming. It is available to all farmers in Severely Disadvantaged Areas so long as they are not already in receipt of an ESA scheme or CSS Agreement.

The Upland Support Scheme will pay farmers for conserving the habitats of wildlife, maintaining historic features and traditional characteristics like stone walls and meadows. Farmers will also be encouraged to breed traditional livestock and conserve essential resources such as soil and water courses.

However, it has now come to light that a whopping 90% of farmers eligible for the new scheme have not signed up for the Upland Support Scheme. It seems that many hill farmers do not even realise that Hill Farm Allowance is being replaced. There are 9408 eligible hill farmers in England but by May 2010, only 886 had applied to join the scheme. The Uplands Scheme is due to commence at the start of July.

The Tenants Farmers Association is warning that such a low uptake could be disasterous for hill farmers and that much of the problem is because of the complexity of the scheme and application process and because tenant farmers with less than five years duration on their tenancy are not able to apply under the new rules.

The TFA warns that livestock numbers on the fells is dwindling drastically and this is having a detrimental affect on the hills. The former Labour Government is being blamed for not getting the message across to hill farmers that the new scheme is coming in and the TFA is urging the new coalition government to develop better policies to increase livstock numbers on the hills for the benefit of the environment and for increased food production.