“It turned us onto a new way of thinking which puts as much emphasis on the environmental and social benefits of the work we do here as it does on the food production side of the business.
“Prior to that we had run the farm on assumptions rather than facts and it made us realise that if we still wanted to be here in 10 or 15 years’ time, we had to take a clinical look at every aspect of the business.”
Mr Heseltine is now one of the leading members of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, which was set up to promote sustainable farming, and having reduced the number of grazing livestock while at the same time delaying the annual mowing of meadows, he has successfully increased the farm’s biodiversity credentials.
Farming Diary by Helen Keep, senior farm conservation officer, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority: THE trials and tribulations of Zoom meetings continued through February as the farm team embarked on a suite of seminars covering lunch-times and evenings over two weeks. In all, 135 farmers and land managers from all parts of the Yorkshire Dales National Park listened to talks about the updated Countryside Stewardship scheme, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra’s) Environmental Land Management scheme and a few thoughts on the brand new and soon-to-be-launched (fingers crossed) Farming in Protected Landscapes scheme. Zoom does have its positives but, as an attendee or organiser, you are definitely missing out on a cup of tea and a chat afterwards. The post-meeting tea is always a good time to catch up, to ask those questions that have been niggling you for ages, to ask more details on something you heard about that evening, and to enjoy
DALES farmers are being invited to attend online meetings about the updated Countryside Stewardship scheme and the Government’s new Environmental Land Management scheme. The farm conservation team at the National Park Authority will run nine hour-long Zoom meetings this month, between Wednesday, February 10, and Monday, February 22. Each meeting will feature a presentation from the team and an informal discussion. Five of the meetings are scheduled for the daytime, with four in the evenings. Farmers can book a place by visiting the farm team’s webpage at www.yorkshiredales.org.uk/farming. Senior Farm Conservation Adviser at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Helen Keep, who will be leading the meetings, said: “Usually at this time of year we tempt farmers to meetings in village halls or function rooms by offering chips and sandwiches.