Janet Dwyer has been working with the farmer-led steering group of the Exmoor Hill Farming Network (EHFN), helping them produce a position statement following discussions in late 2016 regarding the implications of Brexit.
Janet attended a workshop and helped draft an ‘Ask’ document, which explains the benefits provided and contribution made by this farmed upland landscape. It puts forward a future vision for a reshaped agriculture policy for Exmoor. You can read the full position statement here or find out more about the EHFN by visiting their website.
The document ‘asks’ for a package of public and private investment overseen by the National Park Authority. Coupled with the skills, assets and innovative ideas of local farmers and land managers, and with the support of environmental and community groups, it is felt that this can deliver a stronger, more effective approach for the future.
Exmoor has an internationally-valued landscape, produced by many centuries of farming, moorland and woodland management. Its farming families care deeply for the landscape and work closely with many partners to protect and sustain it.
As the UK prepares to leave the European Union, the government has a unique opportunity to reshape how to maintain the benefits that upland areas can deliver whilst taking into account revised trade policies. The EHFN hopes that their statement will feed into that process.
The statement has been trending on Devon and West Country news today.
Between 2014 and 2015, Janet led a CCRI team to undertake a review of the current state of farming on Exmoor and evaluate the changes within the previous ten years, See project information.
Janet is also a member of the Uplands Alliance, formed in 2015 to help protect Britain’s uplands. The Uplands Alliance aims to promote better communication between practitioners, researchers and policy makers with a view to improving the sustainability of the English uplands and their management.
