Will further cuts to livestock numbers on Dartmoor prove damaging?
I’ve been hearing how farmers on Dartmoor are facing serious threats to their businesses as a result of restrictions on the numbers of sheep and cattle they can graze on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) on the Moor.
Natural England is seeking to set new limits for farmers and commoners who want to renew environmental agreements, in some cases insisting they reduce stock numbers to levels that the farmers say will make their businesses unsustainable.
The Lord Lieutenant of Devon, David Fursdon, is chairing a review of the changes following a parliamentary debate in which South West MPs raised concerns. Discussions that have taken place between farmers, landowners, Natural England and Dartmoor National Park Authority prior to the review being instigated concluded that no livestock reductions should take place for a year, pending the outcome of the review, but in some cases reductions have continued to be pursued.
A meeting organised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) at the Two Bridges Hotel, Princetown on Tuesday (Sept 5) heard many people question the environmental benefits of reducing livestock to the point where invasive plants, including molinia grass, effectively cover parts of the moor, undermining many other more important plants and damaging the habitat that wildlife needs to thrive.
Meeting host Ann Maidment, South West Director of the CLA, invited members to the meeting to share their concerns and comments. The CLA’s Senior Environmental Policy Advisor Sara Brouillette joined by video link and updated the meeting on the CLA’s work to win a better deal for farmers and landowners.
CLA South West Regional Surveyor, Mark Burton, said it would be important for Natural England to rebuild trust with the farming community on Dartmoor, whose support in achieving improvement in the moorland environment would be essential.
Tom Stratton, responsible for the day-to-day running of the Duchy of Cornwall Estate in Devon – a major Dartmoor landowner - said stock levels had fallen markedly since the late 1990’s with the advent of agri-environment schemes. The measures being proposed by Natural England on SSSIs are likely to bring the numbers down still further.
He said that while some areas were over-grazed, others were becoming swamped by a “sea of molinia” – a moorland grass that, if uncontrolled, can swamp other vegetation, damage the habitat for wildlife and walkers and create a major fire risk.
He explained that where more livestock were needed, for example to improve the habitat for a project to reintroduce ground-nesting curlew on Dartmoor, it was becoming increasingly difficult to persuade tenant farmers to take them on, because they had cut back so much they no longer have the capacity to manage larger herds.
He said:
“We’ve lost the balance in terms of the appropriate distribution of livestock and the reduction that we have seen over the last 20 years that has affected the viability of some Dartmoor farm businesses. We are at risk of losing critical mass – the appropriate number of people with the right skills and livestock to deliver the required management for environmental and economic sustainability.”
The meeting heard from a number of farmers, all CLA members, who pointed out the importance of recognising Dartmoor as a farmed landscape with the management of land, through grazing animals, contributing significantly to the flora and fauna found on the moor, as well as creating a sense of community and a shared heritage and culture.
But the farmers were also reminded that accepting public money gave them a responsibility to deliver for the public, including providing places for recreation, habitats for wildlife and the management of water.
The views of the meeting will now be passed to Mr Fursdon to help inform the findings of his review, due to be published in November. Click here to read the review.