Appeal to hit crop stubble targets (From The Northern Echo)
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Appeal to hit crop stubble targets
1:19pm Tuesday 4th October 2011 in Farming News
FARMERS have been urged to tweak the way they manage their crop stubble to help the Campaign for the Farmed Environment meet its voluntary targets.
In 2010-11, England’s farmers delivered more than 40,000 hectares of stubble management to meet the key essential management, or red box requirements of the campaign’s voluntary measures.
However, more must be done to increase the area of land managed voluntarily by June 2012 to help avoid more onerous requirements in the future.
Fraser Hugill, CFE local coordinator and Yorkshire farmer, said: “If farmers tweak their management in 2011-12, the CFE could easily eclipse its target.
“The Defra survey of voluntary measures earlier this year showed that farmers delivered 59,000 hectares of stubble land that could have met the essential requirements.
When you consider that over 320,000 hectares of spring barley alone was planted in 2010, there is huge potential for this option to support the campaign. Last year, I retained eight hectares of stubble over and above ELS to support CFE.”
Farmers can do their bit by leaving stubble to green up over winter before applying glyphosate in spring and not ploughing before February 14.
The dates for retaining voluntary stubble now coincides with ELS options EF15 and EG4, making management far more practical and simplified for those in agreements.
Chris Tomson, RSPB regional agricultural advisor for Yorkshire and Humber, said: “Stubbles managed in ELS or CFE red box can act as a giant bird table providing weed seeds, insects, earthworms, spiders and spilled grain for farmland birds throughout the winter. Winter stubble also provides cover from predators and extreme weather for birds such as grey partridge and skylark.
“The spring crops following stubble offer nesting sites for ground-nesting birds such as lapwing, skylark and yellow wagtail, particularly in areas dominated by winter cereals and rape.”
