Agro-ecology All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) event - 25th November 2013 http://www.highnaturevaluefarming.org.uk/manifesto-for-high-nature-value-farming-in-the-uk/

1. High Nature Value Farming:
lessons from home and abroad
Gwyn Jones
European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism
gwyn@efncp.org

2. Examples of where we can learn from others:
• Need to identify all relevant land, so can target
payments
• Need to link inventories to IACS/LPIS
• Workable monitoring system
• Local project-based approach with output-linked
payments, integrated in CAP

3. HNV farmland is about more than designated sites and
priority habitats
Farmland
Semi-natural
farmland and
features
Annex 1
farmland
habitats
Natura
2000

4. Natural England draft map of HNV farmland - based on
inventories of priority semi-natural habitats + suites of
farmland species.

5. Need to capture wider matrix to get both
ecological and agricultural context
BAP priority habitats inventory

6. • Natural England did local HNV mapping using aerial photos to
capture the wider ‘landscape matrix’, building on inventoried
habitats and County Wildlife Sites.
• Field survey in Culm parishes showed the technique is robust.

7. Devon project draft (seminatural) HNV map
BAP Priority
Habitats map

8. Extent of HNV farmland and % designated
Total
HNVF as % % HNVF
% HNVF
extent of study
covered by covered by
of study area
SAC
SSSI
area ha
% HNVF
covered by
County
Sites
Blackdown 36,860
Hills
Culm
40,628
11
0.1
10
47
16
8.5
11
17
South
Devon
20
4
10
47
33,700

9. HNVF in agri-environment schemes
% of all land
in AES
(current and
classic
schemes)
% of HNV
farmland in
AES (current
and classic
schemes)
% HNV
farmland in
current
Higher Level
Scheme
Blackdown
Hills
47.2
46
11.5
13
Culm
67.5
61
18
17
66
70
19
26
South Devon
% of HNV
farmland in
“classic”
schemes

10. National semi-natural grassland inventories

11. Habitat Inventory of Wales – lowland example

12. Habitat Inventory of Wales – lowland example

14. LPIS-IACS is probably the key to effective targeting,
protection and monitoring of HNV farmland
Bulgarian
example

16. HNV farming identification and monitoring in Navarra
Identification from
inventories/ remote
sensing
On-farm monitoring of features
most sensitive to change

17. Scotland is making a serious effort….
Type 1: attempts at
• Good Farmland with a
high proportioninteresting
identification; of
semi-natural vegetation
approach to monitoring
• English work stopped?
•LCM 2000 work??
Welsh classification
Combined with UAA
• Nothing in N. Ireland?

18. 2004-09
2010-13
Art. 68
www.Irishviews.com

19. This is a PILLAR 1
scheme!!!
….designed by and
embraced by FARMERS!
www.Irishviews.com

20. Messages
• HNV farmland is more than designated sites, but provides the
context for many of them…
– Scheme targeting needs to be more ecologically-meaningful in some
areas
• Need to take HNV farmland identification more seriously
– Inventories of semi-natural pastures and meadows are key, but
Countryside Survey is a big step down that road
• Need to take HNV farmland monitoring more seriously
– but Countryside Survey approach has inspired others already!
• To make things work efficiently, need to link to IACS/LPIS
– some of the EU’s poorest countries are doing it!
• Local projects can be innovative, build trust, enable real
collaboration, be output-linked

21. Thank you!
www.efncp.org