Restoring arable farming's contribution to Biodiversity

We are all well aware of the decline in arable farming. Indeed fifty years ago there was three times as much arable land in Northern Ireland as there is today. This decline, along with the intensification of the arable land remaining, has had catastrophic consequences for wildlife.

The starkest examples of this are the extinction, as breeding populations, of corn bunting and grey partridge. An alarming decline in the yellowhammer population suggests that it too is in danger of being lost from our countryside.

In 1991 the yellowhammer population exceeded 32,000 pairs. The current population, while not known accurately, is estimated to be approximately 5,000 pairs. These birds are concentrated in eastern Co. Down, but are also found in the Upper and Lower Bann valleys, along the Foyle, on the N. Antrim coast and in parts of Armagh. They are absent from Co. Fermanagh.

But birds have, by no means, been the only victims. Many invertebrates and flowering plants, specialised to thrive in less intensively managed arable land, have also suffered. These invertebrates and plants are, in many cases, important sources of food for farmland birds such as the yellowhammer.

What can be done to arrest, or even reverse, these declines? The Countryside Management Scheme (CMS) provides financial incentives to manage arable land in ways that benefit wildlife. The table gives a summary of the options, together with the area under agreement and the payment rates.

CMS arable options

Option	Wildlife benefits	Areas under agreement (ha)	Payment rates* (£/ha)
Retention of winter stubble	Stubbles are left unploughed over winter to benefit wild arable plants and seed-eating birds	1798	80
Conservation cereal	Cereals are grown with minimal use of herbicide to benefit wild plants, insects and birds	173	115
Wild bird cover	Crops are left unharvested over winter for the benefit of seed-eating birds	364	510
Rough grass field margin	Tussocky grass margins are established around arable fields to benefit invertebrates and feeding and nesting birds	144	330

*Payment rates available to farmers who applied to CMS after 2003.

From 2005 a further option, undersown cereals, is available. It involves undersowing a cereal with a grass/legume mixture for the benefit of invertebrates and birds. The payment rate for this option is £75 per hectare.

Can these options make a real difference? To do so two things must happen: The options must genuinely provide the habitats required by wildlife and the uptake of the options must increase.

A mounting body of evidence indicates that the options, most notably in the case of wild bird cover, can indeed fulfil the habitat requirements of wildlife. With regard to uptake, it is encouraging to note that over 350 farmers have already taken up these options and many more are set to do so.

If you are already in, or have recently applied to join the CMS and would like to find out more about how you can be rewarded for helping wildlife in arable areas on your farm, contact local Countryside Management staff.