Farming in Protected Landscapes – Year 2 applications open in April

By Gavin Saunders

Posted 29th March 2022

Since the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme launched in July 2021 a total of 24 projects in the Blackdown Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) have received funding, under four themes – climate, nature, people and place – to enhance the special qualities of the AONB’s landscape. The total amount of grant funding to these projects to date is £146,000. The programme is designed to help bridge the gap during the current period of agricultural transition by providing capital grants for farmers and landowners, pending the arrival of the new Environmental Land Management schemes in a few years’ time.

Farming in Protected Landscapes funded projects are already beginning to have a tangible impact in the Blackdown Hills. They include fencing watercourses to prevent sediment affecting river water quality, designing new wildlife ponds, laying hedges and planting new ones, restoring orchards, clearing scrub from flower-rich springline mires and researching the carbon stocks in soil. Other grants are funding the acquisition of specialised equipment including a brush harvester for gathering seed from wildflower meadows, educational tools to show school children how farming works, and livestock handling and shelter facilities to enable more conservation grazing.

For the second year of the programme, which begins in April, there is a slightly larger budget available, and the Farming in Protected Landscapes team, Gavin Saunders, Mark Edwards and Nicola Cunningham, are on hand to help develop ideas for applications.

Find out more about the Defra-funded Farming in Protected Landscapes programme and how to apply.