In March we will be visited by Megan Gimber from the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, who will be leading a workshop on all things hedgerow. Through this workshop we hope to shed lights on how these boundary features can be incorporated into an SFI agreement as well as their wider benefits for species diversity and the potential for a landscape connectivity project.

How water should be used and managed in the landscape is a hot topic, with growers being asked to balance the needs of conservation, the environment, and continuing to farm productively. With lots of organisations having different priorities for how water should be managed in the future, the steering group thought it would be a good idea to bring everyone together to start a dialogue on future water management strategies, so growers needs are considered as these are developed.

We have a number of organisations attending who will do a short presentation followed by a discussion. The organisations include:

• South East Rivers Trust

• Water Resources South East

• South East Water

• Southern Water

• Sustainable Water Solutions

• Lower Medway Internal Drainage Board

• Zoological Society of London

We hope you can make it!

Following the October Budget, and recent changes and uncertainty around Agri-environment schemes, we are planning to focus our next event on updates to government funding. We are planning to cover SFI, Higher tier and Landscape Recovery. We are hoping to have a Natural England representative come speak to the group and offer new information on Higher Tier. 

G H Dean & Co have undertaken some habitat restoration activities on their saltmarsh, including creation of scrapes, installation of a new sluice and raising water levels. Come for a walk to see the improvements and hear from the masterminds behind work, who will discuss how the project was conceived, the work that was entailed and what it will deliver for nature.
Its a good chance for us all to discuss any issues or successes with Carol Donaldson (surveyor) and Archie Fuller, NE officer and as a group discuss how AES schemes can deliver more for us all and possible cooperation and cost savings.

The Secretary of State announced the latest ELMS guidance at the Oxford Farming Conference, including some additional items for the Horticulture sector. This event will address the latest ELMS guidance including what options are available to you in CSS and SFI, how much they pay and what you will need to do. This will be a workshop with the opportunity to ask questions and work through examples.

The Environmental Land Management Scheme announced by DEFRA to guide the farming industry through the Agricultural Transition Period encompasses new and existing schemes, such as Landscape Recovery, Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Sandy Kapila, head of External Affairs at the RPA, will be coming to present on the latest updates to the ELMS schemes and answer your questions.

Sally-Ann Spence FRES FLS, founder of Dung Beetles for Farmers and the Dung Beetle mapping project with the University of Oxford, is well known for her work on British dung beetles and their conservation. She will be coming to the Swale to deliver a workshop on dung beetle habitat, identification and importance in agricultural systems.

The RPA recently confirmed that the Swale farmer cluster has received funding to support meetings and activities that support DEFRA's environmental aims and objectives over the next 3 years. Come along to this kick-off event where we will give an overview of the objectives of the group, some of the events that we have coming up, and how you can get involved with some exciting new projects