§ Mr. ChallenTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to encourage biodiversity in British agriculture. [20751]
§ Alun MichaelMany of DEFRA's activities are intended to conserve and enhance farmland biodiversity. Most notable among these are our agri-environment schemes, which we are expanding greatly under the England Rural Development Programme. Other measures include:
- delivery of free conservation advice to farmers, focusing especially on priority BAP species and habitat;
- cross-compliance measures to ensure good environmental management of set-aside land and to tackle over-grazing and inappropriate supplementary feeding of livestock;
- support for planting of trees on former agricultural land through the Farm Woodland Premium Scheme;
- controls on approval, storage, marketing and use of pesticides; flood management measures;
- a biodiversity and conservation management research programme worth over £2 million a year;
- our contribution to the many UK Biodiversity Action Plans for which agricultural management is a factor and, in particular, our lead partner role for the Habitat Action Plans for cereal field margins, ancient and/or species-rich hedgerows and upland hay meadows.
We are also leading the campaign for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. One of our objectives is to shift its emphasis away from production subsidies and towards support for rural development and more environmentally-friendly farming practices. The England Biodiversity Strategy, which will be published next summer, will consider how biodiversity delivery can be further improved in the agriculture sector.