Upland Entry Level Stewardship Farm Walk - Blaze Farm, Macclesfield
YOU are invited to a farm walk to look at the potential of Upland Entry Level Stewardship (UELS) on your farm and the benefits it can bring to both the environment and farm income. (Now on February 23rd instead of February 9th)
The Hill Farm Allowance (HFA) is coming to an end and its successor is the Upland Entry Level Stewardship (UELS). There will be payments of up to £62/ha for land within the SDA.
Blaze Farm in Wildboarclough is an award winning farm set on the edge of the Peak District. They have 60 milking cows, 500 breeding ewes and 20 beef cattle with all land being in the SDA. In June 2002 they opened a successful ice cream parlour, tea room and nature trail.
In 2006 the farm entered into an Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Higher Level Stewardship agreement. The ELS options include protection of in-field trees, buffer strips, boundary maintenance and managing archaeological features on grassland. The HLS options focus on managing species rich grassland and enclosed rough grazing.
Blaze Farm has a popular educational access facility and regularly hosts school and family visits.
Farmers and land owners who enter UELS will receive up to £62/ha on their SDA land. To gain entry in to the scheme farmers will have to achieve a points target by meeting requirements and choosing options which best suit their farming practice.
We shall begin with an introduction to the farm and UELS, followed by a guided farm walk looking at the requirements and options that can be used to gain entry into the scheme including how it fits in with the existing agri-environmental schemes.
In addition we shall cover the choices for existing agri-environment agreement holders and the application process.
Speakers: Mark Stubbs and Richard Potts - Land Management Advice Service
We shall be walking across fields and up and down terrain so please wear suitable clean footwear. A foot dip will be provided for bio-security purposes.
The farm walk commences at 10.00am and will last around 2 hours followed by a Blaze Farm hot pot lunch provided.
Te reserve a place please contact Natural England quoting event ref NWFW409
Time: 10:00am - 12:30pm (rearranged from Feb 9th to Feb 23rd)
Location: Blaze Farm, Wildboarclough, Macclesfield
Catchment: Not applicable
Contact: Natural England (Event ref NWFW409) Tel: 0300 060 1695 Email: farmevents@naturalengland.org.uk
