Rupert Bendall • Environmental Gains
ENVIRONMENTAL OPPORTUNITIES RUPERT BENDELL Director Loxton Land 01225 904 903 rupert@loxtonland.co.uk
“The value of natural capital is being driven in part by farm policy, but also by other new regulations coming from the public sector.” Main Image: Could your farmland be yielding more through environmental offsetting – an increasingly tradeable opportunity?
14 • The Farmers Club Winter 2022
Farmers can help reconcile development with the environment, explains Rupert Bendall of Loxton Land ENVIRONMENTAL gains needed by developers are creating farm diversification opportunities. Environmental commodities which relate to water quality, carbon sequestration and biodiversity which may have historically been dismissed as having no tangible value, are now being recognised for their public benefits. Increasingly these environmental goods, or ‘natural capital’, are being measured and valued, allowing them to be bought and sold. The introduction of Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes is a sign of the Government’s growing focus on
environmental protection. However, beyond this, the value of natural capital is being driven by other new regulations coming from the public sector. This is resulting in emerging marketplaces in the private sector, in turn creating diversification opportunities for landowners. Trading platforms One such example includes the nitrate and phosphate trading platforms that have been expanding from the south coast of England up into Wiltshire and the Somerset Levels. These have emerged as Natural England forces Local Authorities to ensure that development in their district has a neutral effect on water quality.
