Wildlife at risk on farms as vital hedge and river rules vanish

Wildlife at risk on farms as vital hedge and river rules vanish

The National Trust, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts say rivers and hedgerows are at increasing risk as UK Government fails to enshrine basic protection for nature on farms.

Wildlife is under even more pressure than ever as basic rules which protect hedgerows and stop farmers from causing excessive river pollution ended on 31st December 2023. The National Trust, RSPB and The Wildlife Trusts are calling for immediate action to fill the gaps left by these vital protections.

Basic regulations known as ‘cross compliance’ had to be followed by farmers in order to receive rural payments between 2005 and 2023. The rules included not farming the land right up to the edge of rivers to ensure farm pollution and soil was not washed into the water – as well as protecting hedgerows and maintaining green cover on soils.  

Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, the UK Government announced these rules would cease to exist after 31st December 2023 and be replaced by new UK ones. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has not confirmed if protections for nature will be maintained – and the absence of rules means that farmers are free to cut hedges in the spring and summer which risks harming nesting birds. It could also mean that more farm pollution and soil is washed into rivers which are already under huge pressure from excessive nutrients caused by manure, soil and other pollutants.

Barnaby Coupe, Land Use Policy Manager of The Wildlife Trusts, says:

“The situation is desperate. The UK Government has ripped up important rules that help protect hedgerows and require buffer strips to prevent river pollution. This danger is compounded by low levels of uptake into new farming schemes which incentivise only the most basic green practices on farm, leaving nature at a net loss.

“The Environment Improvement Plan published just this year stated “This government is committed to leaving the environment in a better state than we found it” – but this promise rings hollow now that safeguards against damaging farming practices have vanished. We need to see a firm commitment from Government that protections for nature will be at the very least maintained this year at the same level as the old regulations.”

Rosie Hails, Nature and Science Director at the National Trust says:

 “Ending Cross Compliance rules without sufficient replacement provisions places nature, water courses and historic hedgerows at increased risk. This is because some farmers may choose to withdraw from important practices such as providing buffers around watercourses, maintaining soil organic matter or taking action to minimise soil erosion. Farmers might also decide to trim hedges later in the spring and earlier in the autumn with impacts for birds and other wildlife.

“For the benefit of nature and to give farmers clarity, it’s vital that that Defra addresses this regulatory gap with urgency as well as ensuring farmers are better able to access to the right advice, helping them adopt practices that best protect the environment while maximising opportunities through nature-friendly farming.”

Alice Groom, Head of Sustainable Land Use Policy at RSPB England, says: 

‘’In just the last five years, farmland bird species have declined by 8%, but loss of protections for hedgerows now means cutting can take place during this year’s nesting season. This could have a catastrophic impact upon iconic farmland species such as Yellowhammer, Cirl Bunting and Turtle Dove. Species already pushed to the brink urgently need these gaps in protections to be filled, and monitoring and enforcement to be stepped up.  

For nearly twenty years, farmers and land managers have applied the basic good practices of cross compliance. Whilst it is right that the Westminster Government is switching from direct payments to a public money for public goods approach, this transition must be underpinned by effective regulations to protect the environment. The end of this long-standing regulatory baseline has created new gaps in protections for our watercourses, hedgerows and soils. Government’s failure to set out a plan for a new regulatory baseline sows confusion for farmers about their obligations, and creates an uneven playing field for those who continue to do the right thing for the environment.’’ 

Farm

Early Oat Fields, Haregill Lodge Farm, Ellingstring, North Yorkshire - Paul Harris/2020VISION

In a response about a regulatory gap in August 2023, Defra stated that ‘‘the majority of rules under cross compliance are already in domestic law’’. However, the removal of cross compliance from 1st January 2024 leaves regulatory gaps across hedgerows, soil cover and watercourse buffer strips that are not covered by existing regulation.

Defra issued a consultation on hedgerows in 2023, but delays in the Government’s response mean that regulatory gaps between January 1st and the bringing in of new protections are now inevitable. There are over 400,000km of hedgerows in England alone, which is still around 50% less than there were in the 70 years ago. A report by the RSPB, Mind the Gap, found that even with high uptake of new farming schemes, over 120,000km of hedgerows could be at risk from damaging practices due to the removal of cross compliance.

The Wildlife Trusts, National Trust and RSPB urge the UK Government to uphold protections for nature while providing much better support for farmers to take a ‘whole farm’ approach to nature-friendly farming through new Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes, rather than simply receiving payments for one-off actions with isolated benefits for wildlife. Critical to this is increasing support for farmers to access independent advice for the best actions to take on their farm.

Editor’s notes

Risks and opportunities of a post-EU environmental regulatory regime for agriculture in England

The 2020 report, Risks and opportunities of a post-EU environmental regulatory regime for agriculture in England, highlighted the risks presented by the removal of Cross Compliance without an equivalent mechanism of environmental protections included within future agricultural policy. The report, commissioned by The Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB, and the National Trust, included a recommendation for a strong set of environmental regulations and standards in English law to act as a baseline for all those managing land. Download the report

 Farmers and nature badly need ‘public money for public goods’

The Wildlife Trusts’ CEO, Craig Bennett, set out the need for greater ambition in ELM schemes in a blog earlier this year. Craig will be attending the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January 2024, please do contact The Wildlife Trusts if you would like to arrange an interview. Read the blog here

 An assessment of the financial resources needed for environmental land management in the UK The 2023 report, An assessment of the financial resources needed for environmental land management in the UK, revealed that at least £4.4bn a year needs to be directed solely towards agri-environment schemes to enable the UK to achieve its net zero greenhouse gas emissions target on land, halt and reverse the catastrophic declines of nature, improve air and water quality, and look after our cultural heritage. The UK government currently spends about £3.5bn in total on agricultural subsidies each year. According to the report, which was commissioned by the RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts and the National Trust, the ‘scale of need’ has risen due to ongoing declines which have not been sufficiently tackled, leading to new environmental commitments and legally binding targets, most notably to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Download the report

 Farmland bird species have declined by 8%.

UK Government's committed to the Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in December 2022. Target 7 states: Reduce pollution risks and the negative impact of pollution from all sources, by 2030, to levels that are not harmful to biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, considering cumulative effects, including: reducing excess nutrients lost to the environment by at least half including through more efficient nutrient cycling and use; reducing the overall risk from pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals by at least half including through integrated pest management, based on science, taking into account food security and livelihoods; and also preventing, reducing, and working towards eliminating plastic pollution. See summary: COP15: Nations Adopt Four Goals, 23 Targets for 2030 In Landmark UN Biodiversity Agreement | Convention on Biological Diversity (cbd.int)

The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trusts are making the world wilder and helping to ensure that nature is part of everyone’s lives. We are a grassroots movement of 46 charities with more than 910,000 members and 35,000 volunteers. No matter where you are in Britain, there is a Wildlife Trust inspiring people and saving, protecting and standing up for the natural world. With the support of our members, we care for and restore over 2,000 special places for nature on land and run marine conservation projects and collect vital data on the state of our seas. Every Wildlife Trust works within its local community to inspire people to create a wilder future – from advising thousands of landowners on how to manage their land to benefit wildlife, to connecting hundreds of thousands of school children with nature every year. www.wildlifetrusts.org