A new team has been appointed to administer applications for the Farming in Protected Landscapes grant scheme.
The new members at Nidderdale AONB are helping farmers and landowners applying to the three-year Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) funded programme, which aims to support those who manage land in AONBs and National Parks across the UK.
Matthew Trevelyan and Iain Murray are job-sharing the lead officer role, with support from part-time assistant officers, Alison Metcalfe and Christy Irish.
All of the new AONB team have a strong connection to protected landscapes, with a wealth of experience in working on farms, including upland sheep, dairy, beef, pig and arable enterprises.
The scheme offers financial support for one-off projects that either support nature recovery, mitigate the impacts of climate change, provide better access or engagement with the land or increases the business resilience of farms.
Lead officer Matthew Trevelyan has worked for more than ten years on the North York Moors, managing a family farm and an organic flour mill. He has also worked as a dry-stone waller in the Peak District.
Trevelyan said: “I feel a strong connection to the upland landscape. I grew up with the heather moorland on my doorstep, and the calls of peewits and curlews around me.
I love the culture of the dales, and want to promote a way of farming that is beneficial to nature.
“It’s important that we recognise that farmers are the guardians of this incredible landscape, by funding projects that benefit us all, but I also want to promote the high-quality food that farms in the AONB produce.”
The programme runs from July 2021 until March 2024. For the first year of funding, applications must be received no later than January 31, 2022 and works completed by March 31, 2022.
