Building IPM into the design of the Environmental Land Management Scheme

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Building Integrated Pest Management outcomes into the design of the Environmental Land Management Scheme July 2019

Overview

Introduction

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is vital for the delivery of key Government strategies including the 25 Year Environment Plan, the National Pollinator Strategy and wider farm policy strategies.

As a result of leaving the European Union, the UK will be developing a new policy framework to replace the European Common Agriculture Policy. There will be a range of measures to support farmers and land managers, underpinned by fresh legislation in the form of the new Agriculture Bill which was still awaiting final amendments in Parliament at time of writing (July 2019).

Alongside other policy tools, there are a number of ways in which the Government’s stated objective to increase the uptake of IPM can be met through the new ELMs design and development process including: tests, trials and pilot schemes; outcomes and evidence assessments and guidance; advice and training for farmers and practitioners. This briefing explores these opportunities in detail and how IPM could be incorporated into these various stages. It also includes some specific examples of where IPM can deliver basic and higher level outcomes and provides case studies of where other countries have successfully integrated IPM into agri-environment support schemes. The briefing concludes with a set of overarching recommendations for DEFRA and makes the proposition that, if ELMS is designed in a way which fails to drive the uptake of genuine IPM approaches, then the scheme is unlikely to be able to deliver effectively on its overall objectives.

A core element of the new support system will be an Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) which will provide a basis for the government to pay farmers for providing environmental and other public goods. This is intended to help deliver the ambitious targets in the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and on the outcomes of the new Environment Bill, and to ensure fair rewards for farmers and land managers in return for delivering public goods to complement market returns. The aim of ELMS is for “one, flexible contract, one set of guidance to include around 88,000 participants by 2028”.3 Other objectives could and should also be included in the ELMS, such as supporting the delivery of the National Pollinator Strategy and helping to maintain as much productivity as sustainably possible from the land in order to deliver on the Government’s commitments (such as under Sustainable Development Goals 2, 3, 6, 12 and 154). PAN UK would argue that public health goals (such as reduced exposure to chemicals, enhanced access to nature) should also be considered as outcomes of this new policy , although in the interest of brevity we have not included specific IPM related health outcomes in this document. Intercropping, Kent, 2018.

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