CFE Briefing: CFE and Pollinators
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CFE Briefing: CFE and Pollinators Introduction CFE has always included management for pollinators as part of its whole farm approach: “Diversity of wild species on the farm, for example, pollinating insects, birds, mammals and soil micro- organisms, is critically important to maintain healthy ecosystems that allow agriculture to be more productive” (CFE Deliver Plan 2013-2016). To prepare for the new CAP, CFE held a consultation amongst all partners on the Campaign’s role. In Feb 2014, all CFE partners agreed that Campaign activity can be themed under the headings of: • Action for farm pollinators • Action for farm biodiversity • Action for resource protection CFE pollinator activity during 2014 1. CFE Voluntary Measures A number of the CFE Voluntary Measures include options that provide floristic value or habitat for pollinators. These have been promoted by CFE coordinators since the campaign’s launch in 2009, and in 2013 over 7,000 hectares were managed voluntarily with floristic measures. 2. CFE Pollinator management guide In February 2014, CFE launched the ‘Pollinator management for your farm business’ guide. This was drafted by the Programme Office (PO) and fully agreed by all partners through the CFE governance structure. The guide was also signed off by Defra’s National Pollinator Strategy team and it therefore provides agreed guidance to farmers, aligned to the National Pollinator Strategy Call to Action. The guide has been very well received by pollinator experts, CFE partners, CFE coordinators and NFU members. 3. Pollinator experts join the CFE partnership Following the agreement for CFE’s focus on pollinators, the PO approached Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT) and British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) and partners agreed that those organisations could join the Delivery & Communications Group (DCG) to ensure their expertise can be utilised by the campaign. 4. CFE Pollinator Events 2014 During the summer of 2014, CFE organised and ran 37 events focussed on pollinators. Reports on these events can be found in Annex 1. CFE local coordinators ran 37 pollinator-focussed events through summer 2014; with an average attendance of 25 farmers and advisers per event (total numbers were 729 farmers and 191 advisers attending, see Annex 2) Many events were run in partnership with industry organisations, companies and wildlife organisations, including: BBKA, BBCT, Kings Game Cover and Conservation Crops, Syngenta, Wildlife Farming Company, Buglife, Cornfield Flowers Project, Natural England, Short-Haired Bumblebee Project, The Voluntary Initiative, Farming Advice Service, DLF Trifolium and Cotswolds Seeds CFE also promoted pollinator management on farm at national shows and events for farmers and advisers through 2014, as well as networking with other relevant organisations. This included presentations and displays at the National Association of Agricultural Contractors Pollinator Conference, Friends of the Earth Oxford Bee Summit, Cereals and Livestock Events and NFU Conference, and in a number of partner publications including Horticulture Magazine (Winter 2013 “Make it your business to protect pollinators”) 6. Pollinator seed bank CFE partners identified the cost of seed being a major barrier to farmers implementing pollinator habitat voluntarily. Partners agreed that this could be overcome by talking to industry about providing subsidised seed to farmers who agree to support CFE. CFE began discussions with Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) and Crop Protection Association (CPA) members, and agreed to run a pilot project during 2014. Working with Syngenta & Kings (a division of Frontier), CFE offered 400 packs of seed at a subsidised price of £35 per hectare (approx. half price) to farmers who attended CFE pollinator events or stands at national shows. Each pack of seed was distributed with grower guidance & the CFE pollinator guide. The pilot has been successful with all but 15 packs sold at the end of August 2014. Future Plans during 2015 Pollinator target CFE will develop a set of delivery and land management targets to assess CFE activity to promote pollinator management. This target will be presented to the DCG in early September, and adopted by CFE in time for a series of pollinator-focussed events in spring 2015. Pollinator events During spring 2015, CFE local coordinators will run a further series of events focussing on pollinator management on farm. These will focus on the ‘hungry gap’ for pollinators, the April-June period where flower resources are low and queens are developing nests. In this period, well managed hedgerow habitats and early flowering trees and plants are vital to healthy pollinator populations. Adviser Training CFE partners have identified another important focus as training agronomists and other farm advisers on best practice in pollinator management and establishing pollinator habitat. A pollinator section of the CFE Online Training Module will be developed during autumn 2014, to provide training to advisers. CFE will also meet with BASIS to ensure this training is given appropriate accreditation. Some CFE events will also be targeted at advisers to provide practical guidance. Seed Bank During autumn 2014, CFE will review learning from the pilot and begin the process of extending the scheme. CFE partners are clear that the campaign will not align solely with individual corporates in the future, and the aim will be to engage the majority of AIC and CPA members and offer larger amounts of packs of pollen & nectar seed. CFE has also agreed to further monitor the impact of the 2014 pilot by: Monitoring: Investigate the potential for linking up with the Bees, Wasps & Ants Recording Society (BWARS) to monitor pollinator populations on some of the established mixes Promotion: As part of the pilot, farmers were asked to provide photos of the established mix in the spring. During summer 2015, Kings will provide free seed as a prize and CFE will run a competition to encourage return of these photos. The photos will be displayed on a webpage as a way of promoting the work farmers are doing for pollinators. Annex 1: CFE pollinator 2014 event reviews Annex 2: CFE pollinator 2014 events Annex 1: CFE pollinator 2014 event reviews South Yorkshire Surrey Staffordshire Herefordshire Warwickshire & Worcestershire Kent East Midlands West Sussex East Sussex Hampshire North Yorkshire 1 North Yorkshire 2 South Yorkshire: New Hall Farm pollinator event review CFE recently held a farm walk at New Hall Farm, Nr Barnsley looking at the topic of pollinators and what farmers can do to support them. The walk led by Marek Nowakowski from the Wildlife Farming Company and supported by Syngenta looked at a variety of habitats and the benefits for pollinators as well as other wildlife. The walk highlighted the importance providing diversity of management for pollinators throughout the year. We highlighted that our crops tend to have lots of food at certain times i.e. rape, beans and peas but the rest of the year provide very little therefore we need to think of how we fill this “hungry gap”. We discussed the importance of early flowering hedgerow and scrub species such as willow and blackthorn. The issue of “perceived tidiness” came up and how we can help pollinators by not been so keen to top things like cow parsley when flowering. The walk highlighted there is lot we can do with small changes in management to provide niches and varied habitat and habitat structure for pollinators and wildlife more generally. We concluded that although there is a lot of publicity around honey bees it is actually the wild bees that are the best pollinators of our crops and our management can help support these valuable wild populations. Pollen for bees can also be found in crops, although not intentional field or corn poppies are a source of pollen for all bees. Surrey Farm Walk: Hosted by Hugh Broom, Milton Court Farm, 10th July 2014 Where: Wotton Village Hall and Milton Court Farm, nr Dorking, Surrey Farming: 320 acres, arable and grass for sheep Speakers: Hugh Broom (Host farmer), Helen Theobald (CFE), Linda Shepperd (Agrovista), Sandra Nichols (NFU) Attendees: 12 farmers, 2 agronomists/advisers, 2 seed sales reps, 3 from agencies Summary Farmers and advisers in Surrey gathered to hear about forthcoming changes to CAP and how they can implement some of the CFE’s voluntary conservation measures. Hugh Broom, Surrey CFE Group chairman led a tour of Milton Court Farm, with discussions centring on: Why CFE makes sense – Hugh is a big fan of the voluntary approach. He has worked successfully with Natural England to benefit the farm through ELS/HLS, but believes that some areas are best managed outside of these schemes, and enjoys being able to experiment a little! Wild bird options – since implementing measures for birds, the farm has an increasing swallow population, on hand on the day to show off a little, and many more skylarks. The farm is also used by lapwing and yellowhammer amongst others. Hugh described the RSPB surveys done on the farm and the wild bird seed planted. Mayweed control was discussed with the agronomist and Natural England representative Georgina Terry. Wild bird seed - on light land HLS management of grass and field edges gave rise to discussions about ragwort control and the pros and cons of naturally regenerated margins and field corners, versus those sown with conservation mixes. The farm has both types of grass margin/field corner, with Hugh preferring the sown mixes. The mix sown around the barley fields was a “legume and herb rich” mix selected for pollinators, and including sainfoin, lucerne, birdsfoot trefoil, sheeps burnet, ribwort plantain, black knapweed, yarrow, sheeps sorrel and red clover, alongside the grasses: ryegrass (late perennial diploid), Smooth-stalked meadow grass, timothy and fescues. Discussing natural regen. versus sowing of margins, and mixes for pollinators The farm is familiar with legume growing, as red clover and lucerne form part of the forage grown for sheep – with additional benefits for soil and for pollinators.