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 a few chips, sandwiches and some cake!
FARMING DIARY: Helen Keep
There was some really good discussion in a few meetings, but perhaps Zoom stifled a bit of debate. Perhaps the mute button is difficult to master or perhaps the unreliability of the broadband is the factor. But positive feedback from those that did attend meant that at least some have benefitted.
If people didn’t want to speak up, we were able to get their opinions on how the Farming in Protected Landscapes funding should be spent by using an online poll.
Popular responses included funding for business appraisals, cost benefit analysis of new enterprises, barn maintenance, carbon audits, specialist machinery grants, and habitat restoration. It’s clear that financial help will be welcomed and needed by the farming community. Despite the uncertainty, farmers have provided much-needed ideas for Defra to contemplate. These will be fed back to Defra this week. We will know much more in April, so stay tuned.
Hopefully next year this ‘new normal’ will be in the past and we will be back to in-person meetings and having a good natter over a plate of sandwiches and chips.
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