do think the implementation of that
regulation can perhaps be done in a more
streamlined and simple way.
guiding tourists. Every single farming
family in one village I visited were doing
B&B supported by a special scheme
providing tax breaks to their businesses.
The landscape is slowly becoming more
interesting, more colourful, more alive
and it is working economically, socially
and environmentally. Why not aspire to
these examples in Europe where they
have more people, not fewer, than we
have in our uplands?
Thinking of the Oxford Farming and Oxford
Real Farming Conferences – is there
more room for cross-fertilisation of ideas,
including better quality arguments?
I totally agree – there is so much to be
learnt from each other. Those farmers
farming profitably with lower inputs in
the organic movement have knowledge
which could help reduce inputs in
conventional farming and vice versa.
I really believe in dialogue and cross-
sharing of knowledge and information in
moving to new ways of farming.
If you were a large landowner, say a Dyson
or a Buccleuch, what would your remit for
your property adviser be?
Do we require rural psychologists to help
land managers and farmers make some
tough transitions in remote areas of the UK?
The average income for small sheep
farmers in the uplands is not fair, and the
market is not working for them. I think
we should assist them to diversify, and
pay them for the environmental goods
that many of them are already providing. I
think they should be paid for the drystone
walling, the hedges, pastures full of
wildflowers and lots of things they love
doing but are not being rewarded for, and
encouraged to profit from the enormous
number of visitors who go to see those
landscapes.
Should UK National Parks become more like
the USA’s Yellowstone Park and charge?
No, because Yellowstone doesn’t have
people living there but maybe more
like Asturias in northern Spain, where
thriving rural communities are being
paid for the physical environment
created by extensively grazed livestock
and environmental services, such as
I would push
for innovation
in my farming
to increase
productivity,
becoming more
responsible
in having less
impact on the
environment
It would be entirely different for each of
them. As a ‘lowland Dyson’, I would push
for innovation in my farming to increase
productivity, becoming more responsible
in having less impact on the environment.
I would identify those places on my land
where farming is not worth doing, and
I would seek to environmental services
from the land by allowing nature to
restore itself. There is space on every
farm for a pond or a hedgerow or two and
an uncut patch.
If I were a landowner in windswept
Scotland, I would move away from a
monoculture of red deer for stalking,
seeking to make my landscape a more
interesting model for visitors. It would
still include hunting, fishing, shooting
but it would also include birdwatching
and hiking, cycling, kayaking and
glamping. I would also be looking to
be rewarded for reducing flooding and
income from local authorities for public
access. There is a whole bunch of different
things we could look at to diversify into in
a brave new world.
This first appeared in RICS Land Journal
and please direct any queries, gripes or
comments to Rob at robyorke.co.uk
autumn 2019 | Outdoor focus 7