Limited impact of GLAS to help environment  outweighed by dairy, beef expansion

About 40% of farmers, on 40% of all farmland, took part in the €920m scheme

Most of the farmers in GLAS were in the north and west, and were small-scale or part-time farmers. GLAS was less popular on more intensive farms in the south and east where

The effect of GLAS has been modest at a national scale in reducing pollutant loads, and mitigating climate change, according to the latest evaluation of the €920m agri-environment scheme.

The main reason is that GLAS failed to engage larger and more intensive farmers, who were put off by the overall payment cap and relatively low payment rates, according to the evaluation by ADAS, the UK’s largest independent provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy advice.