FARMERS spend more than £16m a year looking after hedgerows, according to an NFU survey of 1,000 members.

The rate of planting is increasing and more than 80pc actively manage their hedgerows to help wildlife and conserve the landscape.

This care for the UK's 300,000 miles of hedgerow was one example given, at Monday's launch of the five-point plan by the NFU and English Nature, of the conservation work carried out by the industry.

But, at a seminar organised by North Yorkshire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group at Leeming Bar last week, there was a strong warning that many farmers would not be able to afford to renew conservation agreements or take part in part in countryside stewardship and similar schemes.

Mr Peter Pick, farmer and director of Ryedale machinery ring, said he had planted more than 2,000 trees and 2 miles of hedgerow during a five-year stewardship agreement.

"I have received grant aid of about 20pc and would have loved to have gone into another five-year scheme but unfortunately there are not the people to do the job," he said. "There is just me and one man now. We do not have the time and I have not got the other 80pc to put to the grant aid. The farm has not made any money for four years."

Mr Pick said he had not realised just how much was involved in maintaining the work done. Hedges needed year-round maintenance which required time and some money. "Unless these programmes are fully funded, I do not know how we are going to do another five-year project," he said.

There was widespread agreement from other farmers at the meeting.

The NFU survey showed that farmers spent 1.5m hours a year - equivalent to 41,000 weeks - maintaining hedges in the UK and spent an average £1,200 a year on hedgerow management. They found that the £16m spent trimming hedges did not cover extra work such as hedge laying, "gapping up" and planting new hedges.

A third of the farmers surveyed said time and money were the principal barriers to doing more, with 60pc saying they would like to join an environment scheme but felt they could not because of the schemes' complexity or because the incentives were too small.

Mr Ben Gill, NFU president, said: "It is precisely because hedgerows are such a quintessential part of our countryside that many people fail to realise that they do not appear by chance and will not survive for long without careful management.

"The cost of maintaining Britain's hedgerows is huge yet, despite the economic crisis, farmers have continued to invest their time and money in countryside protection, a true testament to how much farmers care for the countryside.

"Farmers recognise their responsibility to the environment. The issue is whether they can afford to do as much as they would like.