A DEFRA-FUNDED trial on 26 Exmoor farms and smallholdings in West Somerset has helped provide evidence to the UK government on the true cost of delivering public goods in a National Park alongside a viable farm business. Working with the Exmoor Hill Farming Network (EHFN) and environmental consultancy firm Rural Focus, Exmoor National Park Authority was commissioned by Defra (the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) to test principles for mapping the delivery of public goods on individual farms, to help identify key areas for investment and collaboration. It is hoped the findings will help identify ways to better support farmers in protected landscapes, ahead of the transition to the government’s new flagship scheme for Environmental Land Management (ELM), and a new pilot due to take place later this year.
Higher payment rates and the assistance of skilled advisers will be required to make the upcoming Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme successful,