Ref: CSFF120005
Lead: Becky Hughes, becky.hughes@fwagsw.org.uk
Group members: 15
Length of agreement: 5
Area of group (Hectares): 2083
The Helford Farmers Group will be focusing on achieving improved management of soil and water, in order to protect the water quality of the Helford Estuary for biodiversity and shellfish, and mitigate for surface water flooding in at-risk subcatchments like Gweek and Porth Navas.
This will have positive benefits for the CS Objectives around water quality and climate change, but also for managing priority habitats particularly lowland meadows, lowland fen & purple moor-grass and rush pasture; it will also influence field boundary management which is a CS Landscape Priority.
Another important theme for the Helford Farmers is the protection and enhancement of the farmed landscape. This has synergies with the CS landscape priorities (The Cornwall AONB, ancient woodland, historic landscape features and field boundaries), Priority Habitats (woodland and grassland) Priority Species (Greater & Lesser Horseshoe Bats) and the Forestry priorities (bringing woodland into management, Woodland For Water and biodiversity).
The Helford Farmers also want to focus on increasing the resilience and efficiency of the farm enterprise, by looking into carbon sequestration, nutrient use efficiency, alternative and innovative crops and management methods, ensuring compliance and sharing best practice and increasing sustainability. This fits very well with the CS objective of increasing resilience to climate change.
The over-arching aim of the Farmer Group will be to integrate their objective of running efficient, sustainable, locally specific farms with managing multiple closely linked environmental objectives. The iconic Helford estuary and landscape links the woodland, soil & water objectives closely whilst delivering synergy with habitat, species and landscape goals.
