AROUND 50 farmers from Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor visited Okehampton Common for a moorland farming event, focussing on the benefits of working together and examining ways to increase the levels of income to those who manage the land. There were a series of presentations. John Hodge, former chairman of Dartmoor Commoners? Council, began with the farmer?s perspective on moorland farming today. He emphasised the need for swaling, or heather burning, and grazing management and expressed concern that too many farmers were doing no more than ?just hanging on?. Eamon Crowe, from the Rural Development Service, addressed the role the latest grant scheme, Environmental Stewardship, has to play in making farming viable and explained that there were now more than 100 options within the scheme. John Waldon, the Moor Futures project officer within Dartmoor National Park, outlined how heritage issues have been incorporated into the Moor Vision that has been developed by the park authority and other agencies to identify how they would like to see Dartmoor in 2030. The morning presentations were rounded off by Simon Thorp, director of the Heather Trust. He stressed the need for farmers, commoners and agency staff to develop common objectives for the moor and work together to achieve them. The two key management issues were better control of grazing, possibly using greater numbers of sheep and cattle, and more swaling. He suggested farmers would be able to more closely achieve the objectives for management of the vegetation, if they were given more freedom to decide how best to farm the moor to achieve the agreed objectives. Event organiser Simon Thorp for the Heather Trust said: ?We were delighted to welcome so many people from Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor to this event. ?It is important that people recognise that moorland is a managed landscape, and that farming provides the management that maintains the characteristics of our moorland areas. ?It is essential to ensure that the farming of these areas remains a viable proposition. ?I am grateful for the funding from the Rural Development Service that allowed us to organise this event.? The Heather Trust is a charity dedicated to promoting best practice in moorland management. The event was funded by the Farm Advice Unit of the South West Region?s Rural Development Service.
