New £5.5m scheme for sheep sector (From Gazette & Herald)

New £5.5m scheme for sheep sector

A NEW financing scheme with a link to English Nature has been put forward for sheep farmers.

Farming minister Lord Whitty said the programme will be used to encourage environmentally-beneficial farming methods and increase profitability of the sheep sector. A fund of £5.5m will be used to:

Create the Sheep and Wildlife Enhancement Scheme (SWES) to help farmers achieve environmentally-sustainable sheep grazing, administered by English Nature

Create the Better Returns programme, to give practical advice to farmers on how to secure better market returns, administered by the English Beef and Lamb Executive

Expand a pilot project to test electronic sheep tracing systems.

A spokesman for DEFRA said the English sheep sector has yet to fully seize the opportunities to improve quality and their returns from the market. In 2002, just under 55pc of sheep carcasses reached industry quality standards.

Updated: 16:50 Wednesday, May 28, 2003