English The Landworkers’ Alliance and educational charity Country Trust have submitted a statement to Defra urging them to include specific payments and incentives for farmers to engage the public on their farms.
Click yma to write to your MP and ask them to support payments for public engagement.
Place-based learning is an important educational tool for both adults and children. And at a time when issues around child health, access to the outdoors, food security and climate change are at an all time high, now more than ever we believe that the Government should be supporting and incentivising public engagement on farms.
We know that school trips, open days, work experience and volunteering are a vital first step along the road to inspiring the next generation of agroecological farmers, growers and foresters, and are more likely to change the culture around food, climate and the environment than any other form of public relations.
The new Environmental Land Management Schemes (which are being phased in to replace the Basic Payment Scheme in England) offer a perfect opportunity to support this important place-based learning by including specific payments for farmers who engage the public on their farms.
However, if these payments are not robustly defined and made accessible to all famers across England, then Defra could effectively be closing the door in hundreds of thousands of children – especially those living in urban areas – who stand to benefit the most from educational visits to sustainable farms and market gardens. This is why we want to see payments for engaging the public on farms be made available as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) – a scheme that will be open to all farmers.
By laying out the political and financial case for Defra to provide payments for public engagement, as well as highlighting the key benefits to health, education and environmental awareness, our joint statement makes a strong case for recognising that engaging kids and the wider public on farms is a public good, and should be financially incentivised by Government.
Click yma to write to your MP and ask them to support payments for public engagement.
