Farmers who use conservation techniques to improve the environmental standards for their livestock and their lands have been recognised at an awards ceremony. The Tye Trophy Awards are awarded by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to the farmers in the region who have gone the extra mile on their land in the name of conservation. The issue of environmentalism in farming has been rising up the political agenda as farmers come under pressure to increase food yields, while maintaining and enhancing the countryside at the same time.

Henry Lucas, national president of FWAG, said it was important that farmers begin to carry out conservation projects on their land without being pushed into it by an outside body. He said: “Lots of people know we can have agriculture and the environment hand in hand. “It’s about encouraging people to go that extra mile on their little patch of England. “FWAG works to help farmers improve their land while also having a commercially successful business.” Judges from across Yorkshire and the North-East visited 15 farms and narrowed them down into five regional winners.

In the Tyne Tees area, the winner was Richard Ward, of Cragg Top, in Langleydale, near Barnard Castle. Mr Ward, who has almost 500 acres of organic hill farm, was also named as reserve champion in the overall competition. He was praised by the judges for planting new hedgerows and transforming an old railway siding into a nature pond. “A lot of what we do is for practical reasons,” he said. “We have been replacing fencing with hedgerows over 25 years and we built the pond because otherwise it would have just been unusable land. “We are quite remote but we sell our meat online and we often get customers coming to visit us and see our animal welfare standards and surrounding, people are becoming a lot more aware of things like that.”

Source: The Northern Echo

A 500-acre tenanted hill farm has been selected as the monitor farm for Upper Teesdale. Cragg Top Farm, in Langleydale, near Barnard Castle, will become a centre of excellence for local hill and upland farmers. The project will be explained at an open day on the farm on Friday, from 10am to 2pm. The project is run by the English Food and Farming Partnership (EFFP), Eblex, XL Vets and Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services (UTASS). Funded by Landskills North East, as part of the Rural Development Programme for England, it aims to help farmers develop their business and improve profits.

Cragg Top was selected as being representative of livestock farms in the area where lessons learnt could be transferred to similar farms. Host farmer Richard Ward constantly seeks new ideas. The farm became fully organic late last year and has just launched its Pinstone Crag Organic Meat label, selling beef and lamb direct to the public. Part of an existing Stabiliser cattle group, the farm carries 100 suckler cows and 700 Lleyn sheep. Monitor farms have proved successful in Scotland, and Robert Parker, Quality Meat Scotland board member and former monitor farmer, will be a key speaker at the open day.

Debby Brown, of Castle Vets, Barnard Castle, will look at parasite control and faecal egg counting, while Ben Strugnell, from the Thirsk VLA centre, will discuss cobalt deficiency problems. David Hall, EFFP regional manager, manages the project, which also has a monitor farm in Northumberland. Cragg Top is currently reliant on the single farm payment scheme, and during the next three years, it is hoped a variety of environmental schemes will provide a more secure source of income. One common problem is the huge amount of time spent simply maintaining and running the farm. It is planned to develop a system which allows the farm to be more easily managed so Mr Ward can develop new ideas. The open day will explain the project in detail, including how local farmers can be involved and have input.

Further information is available from David Hall, EFFP regional manager, on 01457-820493.

Source: Darlington & Stockton Times