Defra to hold webinars on Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme

Pig farmers and interested parties throughout England are invited to take part in a series of webinars to help shape the future of the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme.

Following industry feedback on the disruption caused to the farming community by the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, the government paused the national conversation launched by Environment Secretary George Eustice earlier this year at the NFU conference.

Bur six webinars have now been set up to ensure that farmers and others in isolation continue to have the opportunity to share their views on the proposed design of three ‘tiers’ of entry, which will aim to ensure all farmers and land managers to participate in the new scheme at the right level, and help shape the new scheme.

Those interested in attending an event can sign up via Eventbrite, with a full list of the available dates below:

• Wednesday, 1 July – 12:00-1:30 pm
• Tuesday, 7 July – 6:00-7:30 pm
• Thursday, 16 July – 8:30-10:00 am
• Thursday, 23 July – 12:00-1:30 pm
• Tuesday, 28 July – 8:30-10:00 am 
• Thursday, 30 July – 6:00-7:30 pm

Farmers looking to get involved in the webinars should also follow Defra on Facebook, as all followers will be notified of the links to sign up to webinars within the events on our page.

While farmers are encouraged to sign up to and attend a webinar if they can, a policy discussion document on Citizen Space provides those who can’t attend with the opportunity to respond to the new policy ideas. Their views, experiences and advice will help to ensure the new scheme is co-designed with farmers across the country and does not repeat the mistakes of the past, Defra said.

The policy document has remained available for review online since it was launched in February. Individuals and organisations that have already submitted a response will also be given the opportunity to review or reconsider this and resubmit their response to the document within the new timeframe for the conversation.

The deadline to share views on the document setting out policy ideas for the new scheme is July 31.

Farming Minister, Victoria Prentis, said: “I very much look forward to working with farmers and land managers across the country to develop the future scheme and discuss how it will work on the ground.

“Many farmers and land managers are already contributing directly to the co-design of ELM by participating in the ongoing tests and trials and they’re doing great work to explore how the building blocks of the future scheme are put together.

“This conversation is a chance for farmers and land managers to have their say and help shape our future approach to farming alongside caring for the environment. I would encourage all those interested to sign up to an event and have their voice heard.”