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Farming Today: 15/06/23 Tree planting targets; Environmental Land Management Schemes; Gamekeeping

15/06/23 Tree planting targets; Environmental Land Management Schemes; Gamekeeping

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 15/06/23 Tree planting targets; Environmental Land Management Schemes; Gamekeeping

Tree-planting targets; ELMs and income foregone; Gamekeeping on an agricultural estate.

Tree planting figures are due to be published today. The government's missed its targets for the past few years, what's it doing to reach them in future?

England has missed the government's tree planting targets for every year of this parliament, and is expected to miss them again when figures are published later today. The government aims to plant 7,500  hectares a year which is 90 to 120 million trees. However a report from the National Audit office last year pointed out tree-planting rates have not reached Defra’s 7,500 hectare per year target in the past 50 years and rates have only been above 6,000 hectares a year for three of the past 50 years.
The Woodland Trust describes progress as 'glacial at best' but Sir William Worsley Chair of the Forestry Commission says things are improving.

Farmers should be able to make a profit from public money when they're providing public goods - so says the former Environment Secretary George Eustice. He argues that increasing the payments for things like planting hedgerows would be more effective than compensating farmers for revenue they've lost. The Farming Minister says payment rates are being set at a level to encourage widespread participation.

All week we've been exploring the different aspects of running a large agricultural estate, juggling farming with conservation and tourism. Today we speak to the head gamekeeper. The estate in Norfolk has five gamekeepers and runs a number of shoots, most are private but some are commercial and they fund the work that the gamekeepers do.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

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15/06/23 Tree planting targets; Environmental Land Management Schemes; Gamekeeping

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