15 May 2023
A series of ten workshops to be held across the North York Moors National Park will bring together farmers and land managers in the hope of increasing understanding about how their incomes may change as the Basic Payment Scheme is phased out and new opportunities are cultivated.
Since 2019, the North York Moors National Park Authority has been working with Defra to help inform the design of the Environment Land Management (ELM) scheme and investigate the potential for farmers to tap into other, private sources of finance. At the heart of this Test and Trials project is the concept that farmers should be paid to manage their land for the delivery of environmental goods, as well as for producing quality food. In addition to receiving payments from government, there are opportunities for private finance to support schemes such as carbon storage, tree planting, natural flood management or water quality improvements.
Rebecca Thompson, Head of Farming and Land Management at the North York Moors National Park Authority, explained:
“Farmers and land managers in the North York Moors National Park are in the ideal place to deliver these public goods, but it’s also true that farms in this area are typically only 150-200 acres in size. This means individual businesses are not necessarily able to achieve environmental and biodiversity gains at a scale that will attract private sector funding. To work around this, farmers and land managers are likely to have to pull together to change land use and achieve nature recovery across much bigger areas, in order to see financial returns at a farm level.
“The upcoming workshops will help us model how payments for carbon storage and other public goods will impact individual farm incomes, and we will feed this learning back to Defra to help shape their policies relating to Environmental Land Management.”
The workshops will last for approximately 2 hours and are limited to 10 farmers at each event. They are set to take place in late May and early June at the following locations:
Wednesday 24 May, Helmsley
Thursday 25 May, Guisborough
Thursday 25 May, Whitby
Friday 26 May, Helmsley
Wednesday 31 May, Danby
Thursday 1 June – Cloughton
Friday 2 June – Pickering
If you are interested in participating or if you have any questions relating to the project, you can contact Rebecca by email on R.Thompson@northyorkmoors.org.uk , or call 01439 772517.
ENDS
Media contact
Nina Beadle
Communications Officer, North York Moors National Park Authority
press@northyorkmoors.org.uk
01439 772577
The North York Moors National Park
The North York Moors is a beautiful landscape of stunning moorland, ancient woodland and historic sites. Created on 28 November 1952, it become Britain’s sixth national park. Covering an area of 554 square miles (1,436 square kilometres) the National Park has 26 miles of coastline, two national nature reserves, 840 Scheduled Monuments and over 3,000 listed buildings, attracting an estimated 7.7 million visitors a year.
The National Park has two visitor centres, Danby Lodge National Park Centre and Sutton Bank National Park Centre, providing opportunities for cycling, walking, eating, picnicking, shopping, crafts and wildlife-watching. The centre in Danby also houses the Inspired by… gallery, which features regularly changing exhibitions by artists who draw their inspiration from the North York Moors.
The North York Moors National Park Authority works with a wide variety of people to care for this beautiful corner of Yorkshire, providing apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities with nearly 14% of staff being apprentices from local families.
To view other press releases and for further information about the North York Moors National Park, please explore this website.