Presentations of each partner aligned with fruitful discussions. Three farms were visited to get a first-hand impression on how the collective − together with the farmers − is developing meadow bird conservation measures that are perfectly tailored to the local situation of the farms and their land. Each farm had at least 75 pairs of Lapwings, Black-tailed Godwits, Redshanks or Oystercatchers within 100 hectares of their (private) farm land. One thing all three farms had in common was a strong passion for the meadow birds. This motivates them to get involved in species conservation, despite it being economically challenging. It was impressive to see how this cultural link between people and birds appears to have a unique strength in Fryslân.
Still, the biggest drawback for meadow bird-friendly farming practises as presented here is that payments for lower yields are insufficient to compensate for lower financial income. Meadow bird conservation has to be affordable, which is currently not possible for most farms or only feasible for relatively small parts of the land. Current payment schemes appear to pay off the farmers’ conservation efforts only on a maximum of roughly 20% of the farm’s agricultural land. This is neither sufficient for the meadow birds to find enough suitable areas to breed, nor attractive for the farmers as an economic perspective. For this reason, the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats staff are working on developing an improved payment scheme where the value of increased ecosystem services – visible through increasing numbers of meadow birds – is adequately rewarded and hence financially attractive, so that many more farmers become “bird-hearted”.
In the Netherlands there are about 40 agricultural collectives spread across the country aiming to implement funding from agri-environmental schemes into farming practices. Hereof the Collectief Súdwestkust is one of the most successful ones in achieving an increase in meadow bird numbers together with “their” farms. This is largely due to highly committed site managers and motivated farmers active in Fryslân. However, in order get more farmers on board to re-establish meadow bird-friendly habitats on the population level scale, there must be better financial solutions for the broader farming community. The project partners are tackling this challenge together and work hand in hand with farmers on enhanced payment schemes for the future.
