East of England Grazing Forum
The Mission Statement of the Grazing Forum is "to maintain and substantially increase the percentage of grassland of conservation and landscape interest, achieving satisfactory management by grazing in an economically sustainable way."
Background
The decline in the livestock industry in the East of England has lead to concerns that grassland in the region is becoming under-grazed. This is a particular issue on sites that require grazing for ecological and landscape reasons.
Natural England established the East of England Grazing Forum
to act as a permanent 'home' for grazing issues in the region, drawing together representatives from Industry and conservation bodies, livestock production, marketing, retail and development organisations.
The Grazing Forum is dedicated to generating actions that support the livestock industry in the region and is working to ensure correct management of the region’s grassland
The Forum is currently administered from the Natural England offices in Cambridge under the direction of Victoria Perry.
Objectives
- To provide an overview of the grassland in the region, its status and condition and its potential for management by grazing.
- To share information and best practice from within and outside the region.
- To raise the profile of grazing management and the availability and needs of conservation grazing. In particular the need for infrastructure within the red meat industry.
- To support the development of sustainable, market-driven solutions to the issue of under grazing.
- To act as a focus for local grazing schemes set up at sub-regional level.
- To input to policy and advocate changes to improve the viability of conservation grazing.
- To encourage tourism organisations and websites to include links to places where people can see grazing animals.
- To improve the communication between farmers, land managers and graziers leading to a higher proportion of sites in active management.
East of England Grazing Exchange/Grazing Forum home page
