Farm Subsidies to enhance the Environment.

Farm Subsidies to enhance the Environment.

What change do you want to make now to address the climate change crisis? To do this we need to make use of Subsidies for Agriculture to produce food and safeguard the environment. Prior to the EU subsidy scheme we had Subsidies for Hill Ground etc which made use of Carying Capacities for each unit's Cattle and Sheep. This could be used in an ammended form to increase cattle numbers relative to sheep to enhance grazing land. In effect more cattle and less sheep, but with a lesser number of animals expressed as "grazing units" (say 4 sheep = 1cow) overall. What do you need to make this change? The Subsidies would be tied to planting hedges around fields with trees on the hedgerow at some points too. In the fields tress could be planted throughout the field at say 1/acre on arable land, 2/acre on permanent pasture and 3/acre on enclosed Hill. Copses and small woods, trees along watercourse banks, steep gullies etc should be encouraged too. The endrigs at the base of the hedges could be allowed to grow wildflowers etc. The grants could be used to promote this by no hedges etc no grant.

Points

By tieing the grant to the trees/hedges, set carrying capacity etc it would promote these practices. Field sizes could be left as they are. Promoting clovers in the seed mix for grazing land/forage production fields would help out with insect life too. Woodland Crofts in upland /Highland areas would be good too. Programmes of tree plantations, even with the first crop of trees being Sitka etc, would be fine if the 2nd crop was Scots Pine where the woodland area was let regenerate after harvest.

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