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Today about 54 per cent of the Peak District National Park is farmed land (77,500 hectares). There are between 2,000 and 2,500 farms in the National Park.
It is difficult to know exactly how many there are as some farms are very small smallholdings and some are hobby farms where the owner’s main job is not the farm. In the last census (1991) it was found that about 2,000 people worked on farms. Farming is therefore an important influence on the life of the Park.
A farmer’s life and that of his animals follows an annual cycle that moves with the seasons and is influenced strongly by natural elements such as the weather. It is also however influenced by economic elements such as the price of beef or lamb in the market and by government regulations such as milk quotas and differing grants.
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A typical Dark Peak Farm will have had land stretching from the heather moorland to the rich grass in the valley. There may be some store cattle, which are raised for beef but will be sent on to more fertile farms for fattening and a flock of around 50 to 200 sheep. Some farms may have a small herd of dairy cattle. The fields on the lower slopes may be improved by ploughing and re-seeding with grass in some fields is cut to make silage (where the grass is cut and stored without drying so that it pickles to provide winter food for the animals), and the grass in other fields is cut and dried to provide hay. The higher moorland provides rough grazing for the sheep. |
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A typical White Peak farm is similar to the Dark Peak farm but is more likely to have a larger dairy herd and a larger flock of sheep. The animals graze on the grassland of the limestone plateau in a large number of small fields surrounded by drystone walls. |
Peakland Farm
(A Typical White Peak Farm)
| Altitude | 150-300m |
| Rainfall | 1000-1250mm |
| Temperature | Only July/August always frost free |
| Size of Farm | 40ha pasture and meadow |
| Crops | 2 crops silage - 1 crop hay |
| Livestock | Cattle - 40 Friesians (milking) 40 followers (calves & store cattle) Sheep - 150 Cheviots, Gritstones & Suffolks |
| Machinery | 3 Tractors, Muck spreader, Fertiliser spreader, Milking machines, Harrow and Hay bailer |
The whole of the Peak District National Park is classified as a Less Favoured Area (LFA). This means that farmers qualify for higher rates of grant than those in the lowlands and receive ‘headage’ payments for breeding ewes and suckler cows (those kept for breeding and not for milking), through the Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances. The payments are to make it possible for farming communities to continue in these less favoured areas.
During the 1980s agricultural output of the Peak Park increased, especially sheep production. There were changes in the types of farm in the Park. There has been an increase in larger (over 800 hectares) farms and a decrease in medium sized family farms. Dairy farms have decreased and other livestock farms increased. Between 1988 and 1991 about 7% of jobs in agriculture were lost However the number of full-time jobs has been reducing since the early 1980s while the number of part-time agricultural employment between 1984 and 1991 and an increase of 9% in part-time jobs. Farming within the Peak is vulnerable to changes in subsidies. The changes in milk marketing may also have an impact on dairy farming in the area.From the mid 1970s, European farmers produced surplus milk. To try and cope with this problem, milk quotas were introduced in 1984 and involved a reduction in the volume of milk that could be produced, based on figures for 1983. This meant that farmers could no longer increase their dairy herd but had to look for other ways of increasing their income. Milk quotas are now bought and sold, with profitable farmers buying more quota from farmers reducing their herd or giving up dairy farming altogether.
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| Size in ha | 1977 | 1986 | 1991 | |||
| No: | % | No: | % | No: | % | |
| Up to 20 | 1157 | (42) | 1201 | (46) | 1359 | (50) |
| 20 - 80 | 1288 | (47) | 1206 | (44) | 1115 | (41) |
| Over 80 | 293 | (11) | 342 | (12) | 238 | (9) |
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| Farm Type | 1977 | 1986 | 1991 | |||
| No: | % | No: | % | No: | % | |
| Dairy | 796 | (29) | 731 | (27) | 630 | (33) |
| Livestock | 255 | (9) | 290 | (11) | 344 | (13) |
| Pigs/Poultry | 28 | (1) | 29 | (1) | 31 | (1) |
| Arable/Horticulture | 19 | (1) | 29 | (1) | 27 | (1) |
| Mixed | 11 | (0) | 12 | (0) | 9 | (0) |
| Part-Time* | 1629 | (60) | 1658 | (60) | 1679 | (62) |
* Maff Definition Source: Census of Agriculture |
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FROM FOOD PRODUCTION TO CONSERVATION
From the start of World War 2, the national agricultural policy and later the European Community Common Agricultural Policy, has been committed to food production. However, over the past 10 years a change in attitude has taken place. Within the EC, overproduction of food and an increasing concern for the environment has made conservation a more important objective. As a result, food production and conservation are being brought together in land management policy.
Until the 1980s Ministry and Agriculture grant schemes were aimed only at increasing food production. Grants often went to work which damaged conservation interests. Since 1980, schemes have gradually been changed to encourage environmental management. Work that is obviously damaging to the environment is no longer eligible for a grant.
The Farm Grant Notification Scheme was introduced in 1980. All grant applications for improvement work on farms had to be sent to the Peak Park Joint Planning Board before being sent on to the Ministry of Agriculture for approval. Although the Ministry of Agriculture did not have, by law, to follow the proposals of the Board, the scheme has resulted in the modification of many work proposals to include conservation aims.
The Wildlife & Countryside Act in 1981 introduced new ways for the National Park Authority to make voluntary management agreements with farmers and landowners to encourage conservation aims. This meant that they could make compensation payments to farmers who were refused a grant by Ministry of Agriculture to make profitable but environmentally damaging changes. Most agreements have been for sites of ecological importance.
The Integrated Rural Development (IRD) trial project (between 1982 and 1988) gave simple incentives to farmers of three parishes in the Peak Park to maintain existing features of the landscape (such as flower rich meadows and drystone walls).In 1985 the Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Improvement Scheme (AIS) replaced earlier grant schemes. It introduced new grants for work of environmental benefit.
In 1989 AIS was replaced by a Farm Aid Conservation Grant Scheme, with further emphasis on environmental action.
In 1986 an Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA’s) scheme was introduced nationally to help protect some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside from harmful agricultural changes. About 52% of the Peak District National Park is within a designated area. The North Peak became an ESA in 1988, and the South West Peak in 1992. Guidelines are provided to encourage farmers and landowners, particularly in moorland areas, to manage the and in ways which conserve and enhance the landscape, the wildlife and the historic features. Management is achieved by means of a 10 year agreement linked to annual payments. Damaging work is prohibited. An example of such a project is the fencing of moorland to keep out stock and so allow regeneration of the vegetation where erosion has taken place.
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| POINTS TO CONSIDER | |||||
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