THE future of the uplands depends on their farmers and land managers being able to earn a reasonable standard of living.

William Worsley, president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), said many upland businesses are under threat because of low or negative financial margins from grazing livestock production.

He said: “These businesses survive only because of public payments, and the payments are now in jeopardy.

“The ability of upland management to provide a reasonable living standard is critical to the future of the uplands.”

Mr Worsley, a Yorkshire landowner, was speaking at the launch of the CLA’s High Hopes policy report on the uplands.

It makes more than 35 recommendations, including a radical rethink on the way upland farms are supported by the Common Agricultural Policy.

It wants the “negative”

Less Favoured Area approach reversed – instead of characterising those areas in terms of activities for which they are at a disadvantage, the focus would be on what they are good at producing.

The report also wants then renamed as environmentally favoured areas.

It also calls for upland support to be streamlined into a clearer, simpler, more stable and enduring contractual payment to maintain grazing livestock farming.

And it says a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) minister should be given explicit responsibility for upland areas.

Mr Worsley said the uplands are immensely important to society because their management – by farmers, foresters and the shooting industry – provides vital goods and services.

They include producing food, wood products, energy, landscape, natural resource protection and biodiversity, and an array of leisure and tourism opportunities.

Mr Worsley said: “The ability of upland land management to provide a reasonable living standard is critical to the future of the uplands.

“This goal will not be reached by dependence on selling agricultural products alone; rural economic diversification and provision of a range of environmental services such as water and climate protection, and providing biodiversity and cultural landscape, will become increasingly important.”

Other recommendations in the report include the recognition of upland business concerns by the new Local Enterprise Partnerships, attracting new sources of private finance to reduce dependence on public support and improving the productivity and profitability of hill farming, partly through reinvigorated research and development.

Mr Worsley said: “To unlock the potential of our uplands and to ensure delivery of this suite of measures requires real buy-in from Government and some leadership from upland society itself.

“There are a lot of good ideas around to do this, and the report of the Defra committee review and Defra’s internal uplands project provide the opportunity to make rapid progress on this agenda.”