game cover mixtures - Countrywide Farmers

2WelcomeYOUR COUNTRYSIDE 2012WELCOME to all those who regularly receive our catalogue and to thosewho are using it for the first time.OUR AIM is to provide you with anattractive, interesting and easy to usehandbook for use in field or office. Wehave included as much informationas possible to assist you in making aneducated choice as to which crops willbe best suited to your requirements.OUR CUSTOMERS may restassured that they are dealing with aforward thinking company whichinvests heavily in R & D and whoseaim is to ensure that you receive thebest possible service at al times. Welook forward to discussing your seedrequirements for 2012.‘Your Countryside’ Cataloguecontinues to offer youtechnical information andadvice on a diverse range ofproducts including GameCover, Stewardship, ForageCrops, Arable Silage andGreen Manuring enablingfarmers, estate managers andgamekeepers to select thebest products to suit theirrequirements.NATURAL ENGLAND AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE FARMED ENVIRONMENT (CFE)Despite last year’s exhortations to farmers to support the CFE and voluntarily adopt environmental measures to avoid compulsoryset-aside, the target is unfortunately still well below the hectarage required; this could partly be due to external pressures such as the highmargins cereals were achieving during 2011 and possibly to proposed changes to the CAP, but whatever the reason, the campaign is dueto end in June 2012 by which time a further 2,700 hectares are needed to reach the target figure. There are two ways in which this targetcan be achieved - by gaining 30% of ELS points from choosing key target options or by putting 3-4% of land into CFE voluntary measures.The good news is that in practice, if every farmer and land manager in England were to establish just one hectare of pollen and nectarmix and two hectares of wild bird seed in every 100 hectares of productive land and buffer vulnerable watercourses, the Campaign couldmeet its targets thus avoiding further restrictive regulation.One of the key messages of the CFE is the Farmland Bird Package. Through the use of Environmental Stewardship,or voluntary options of the CFE, a number of simple management measures can be put in place that will make a huge difference to farmlandbirds. By adopting the Farmland Bird Package you will provide the three main things needed by farmland birds to survive and thrive: winterbird seed, nesting habitat, and spring chick feed source.Many of the seed mixtures advocated by CFE for the purposes of protecting flora and fauna are also eminently suitable for attracting gameand so fulfil both environmental and agro-business purposes.For further information and for suitable mixtures see pages 24-29 of this catalogue.For help and advice concerning CFE, visit www.cfeonline.org.ukGlastir Welsh Environmental schemeGLASTIR is the name of the scheme introduced by the Welsh Assembly Governmentto replace the number of environmental schemes which are currently in force.It has been heavily reviewed since Spring 2010 and is now more ‘farmer friendly’.For further information and for suitable mixtures see page 32 of this catalogue.NEW UPDATESChemical ChartsStewardship SectionGlaSTIR WELSHENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMENEW PRODUCTSNEWRECIPEOrganic wild bird seed mixtureOrganic nectar flower mixtureWe gratefully acknowledge the contribution ofphotographs from the MGA, Sue Adlard, Chris Baylis,Lorna Checketts, Hannah Davies, Mark Howard, Ed Lowe,Katie Moorhouse, Tim Marlow, Mark Wood and past andpresent members of staff.