Michael Winter The Water Industry and the Upland Economy 2 Upland Water in the Rose Bowl Tuesday 19th January 2016

THE UPLANDS ALLIANCE A NETWORK FOR THE FUTURE OF ENGLAND’S UPLANDS #UplandsAllianceLaunch

An alliance of practitioners, researchers and policy makers Enabling the development and testing new approaches acting as “a policy lab” Working collaboratively to better understand the challenges Working together to find solutions that work for all What is the Uplands Alliance?

High ground, high potential – a future for England’s upland communities 2009

Broadening Land-based Economic Activity Developing markets for carbon and water: Rec 5.1: Defra should establish a long-term land management policy to mitigate carbon loss, particularly in relation to peatlands management. This policy should be informed by the knowledge and capacity that various research programmes have developed in this area. Rec 5.3: Defra and its agencies should use good practice (such as Sustainable Catchment Management Programme and catchment sensitive farming) to develop models for public-private investment that secures multiple objectives in upland catchments, maintains water quality, reduces flood risk and potentially provides income for hill farmers and land managers.

Upland Economies are not just about farming, tourism and the environment Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing is only the 7th largest employment sector in the uplands (LFAs), employing 5.2% of workers (although obviously much more in some of the remoter areas) – compared to 1.2% in England. Agricultural businesses are the second most common in LFAs, accounting for 16% of all businesses. Around half of all hill farmers have some form of diversified farm income. Over 10% fewer households in LFAs have an internet connection compared to households in England.

The Average LFA Farm in 2013/ ha plus common grazings. LFA farmer 57 years old, 27 beef cows and 363 breeding ewes. 65% of revenue (output) from agriculture, 20% from Single Farm Payment, and 12% from agri-environment payments. The balance (4%) from non-farm activities (eg. tourism and recreation). The farming business covers its variable costs and earns a positive gross margin of £24,020 per farm (a 17% decrease from the previous year). However, since the production agriculture side of the farm business is assumed to incur most of the fixed costs (85%) the average LFA farm is shown to generate a negative Agricultural Business Income of -£13,162.

Natural England Commissioned Report NECR02 Economic Valuation of Upland Ecosystem Services 2009 valued these ecosystem services: Food and fibre Renewable energy provision Water supply (quantity and quality of drinking water) for downstream catchments Costs associated with downstream flood risks The use and enjoyment of uplands for outdoors recreation The use and enjoyment of uplands for field sports The non-use values of historic and cultural landscapes The regulation of green house gas emissions Biodiversity and wildlife.

Values and Demand Change And therefore understanding trade-offs is important.

UK Meat Consumption Meat type Trend since 2010 (%) Carcase meat Beef and veal Mutton and lamb Pork -4.2 Non-carcase meat and meat products -4.8 Bacon and ham (cooked or uncooked) -8.6 Poultry (cooked or uncooked) -0.6 Meat based ready meals & convenience meat products +1.6 Source: Defra Family Food 2013

George Monbiot on the Uplands: They are supposed to represent the natural glories we're losing. ….. The many square miles they cover contain nothing but grass and dead bracken. The majority of wildlife requires cover: places in which it can shelter from predators or ambush prey, places in which it can take refuge from extremes of heat and cold, or find the constant humidity that fragile roots and sensitive invertebrates require. Yet, in the very regions in which you might expect to find such cover (trees, scrub, other dense foliage) there is almost none. I'm talking about the infertile parts of Britain, in which farming is so unproductive that it survives only as a result of public money. Here, in the places commonly described as Britain's "wildernesses", almost nothing remains.

So how do we get the ‘right’ uplands economy? Scientific Evidence Valuation Deliberation Incentivisation Empowerment