Nature-friendly farmers have a role to play in cleaning up our countryside
GIVEN that the vast majority of our landscape is farmed, the importance of enhancing the value of farmland to wildlife cannot be underestimated if we are to secure nature’s recovery.
Nor can the framing and funding of Government schemes to deliver the scale of transformation required.
The Wildlife Trusts manage almost 100,000 hectares of land and own over 30 working farms which are managed positively for wildlife, but the work we do in advising over 5,000 landowners each year is also of vital importance.
This is why the Government’s long-awaited announcement on its new scheme to pay farmers for managing land more sustainably, restoring nature and tackling climate change has been viewed as a huge disappointment by the Wildlife Trusts and by the RSPB and National Trust – the UK’S three largest nature charities.
Coming nearly four years since the Government set out its vision for the future of food, farming and the environment and a year after the Agriculture Act came into force, this should have been a significant moment where the Government demonstrated how it plans to achieve its ambitions.
Sadly, the details leave us deeply concerned that the promises on farming and nature made in its 25-year environment are in jeopardy.
The Government has a once-in-alifetime opportunity to transform farming from being a leading cause of declines in UK wildlife to playing a central role in nature’s recovery – so how this scheme evolves is critical to the chances of success.
Nature-friendly farming can help clean up our countryside and take the UK from being one of the most nature-depleted countries to a shining example of a landscape where nature is in recovery.
After our departure from the EU, we were promised that the billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money given to farmers would go to improving our natural world but the new scheme shows a shocking lack of ambition to address the climate and nature crises and nature-friendly farmers look set to lose out too.
There’s so much that farmers could be rewarded for, and from our work with landowners across the county and the UK, we know that so many want to do more.
From implementing measures to prevent soil and pollutants from washing into rivers to creating habitats that help wildlife and store carbon – there is so much farmers can do with the right support.
The Government has so far failed to seize the opportunity but we will continue to push for improvements to schemes and to work hand in hand with farmers.
At a national level, the Wildlife Trusts have positively fed in to policy discussions and many sister Wildlife Trusts have been directly involved in Government pilots to test potential schemes.
Here in Nottinghamshire we are providing direct grant support for farmers keen to create habitats and habitat connections on their land.
We’re working hand in glove with famers to benefit species from bees and butterflies to wading birds and water voles. We are also helping farmers find creative and cost-effective ways to reduce pollution and soil erosion.
In many cases we are delivering these improvements with funds we have secured from the private and charitable sectors because Government schemes have been too complex or inflexible.
What we are doing is making a difference, but the transformation of our farmed landscape needs a dramatic shift in scale.
For this to happen the Government must deliver on its promises or its previously stated ambitions will soon become unachievable.