The Tenant Farmers Association is warning that the marginalisation of farming activity in the uplands is damaging the landscape and biodiversity of the uplands.
Speaking before this year’s North Sheep event at West Nubbock Farm, Hexham, Northumberland, TFA North East Regional Chairman Ken Lumley said "Many people mistakenly believe that the environment and landscapes of our upland areas have just happened and that they are best left to nature. In fact they have been managed carefully by land managers for centuries. Not only are farmers responsible for the stone walls, field barns, hedgerows and field patterns displayed in the uplands, it is through grazing that the heather and grass moorlands and the fragile ecosystems thrive".
"There has been a tendency over recent years for the importance of farming in the uplands to be downgraded. Agri-environment schemes which have encouraged producers to remove livestock from hill areas have contributed to this. Allowing landlords to benefit from these schemes at the expense of their tenants is also causing a problem. The importance of tenants and their livestock has been downplayed," said Mr Lumley.
"The most obvious sign of the negative impact of stock reductions is the massive explosion of bracken which has become invasive in many iconic upland landscapes. Lack of grazing was also a major contributory factor in the recent hill fires following the very dry spring. The mass of dry vegetation allowed those fires to become quickly out of control," said Mr Lumley.
"We need again to value and nurture stockmanship for the future of our upland areas. Livestock farming provides the most reliable and coherent basis upon which the management of these most beautiful and yet fragile landscapes and ecology will be sustained. We have disregarded the concept of balanced management for too long. In the past this was displayed in an uncontrolled subsidy system which in some areas caused overgrazing but we have now leapt to a situation where it would appear that grazing management is not valued at all," said Mr Lumley.
"An important part of the reason why uplands are so special is their remoteness. We need therefore to understand that the more we increase access to these areas the more we put them at risk of damage – the recent fires are a demonstration of that. Not that we should lock them away but we should look to more managed access in consultation with those you live on and work the land and rely less on open access by the public without involvement of the farming community" said Mr Lumley.
