Birds, bees, and butterflies suffer as Brexit farming promises broken The Government’s “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to transform farming from being a leading cause of declines in UK wildlife has been greeted with disappointment by conservationists.
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he Wildlife Trusts, National Trust and RSPB are deeply concerned that the Government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive is failing to come up with ambitious financial rewards, undermining their ability to boost nature-friendly farming. The three organisations feel that Sustainable Farming Incentive standards must have a minimum requirement on farmers and land managers to manage 10 per cent of their land for nature and an option for improving access – it does not do this. They believe that promises made by Government in its 25-year environment plan are now in jeopardy, instead of playing a central role in nature’s recovery. And it would mean nature-friendly farmers will be left behind as larger farms will reap the benefits. Conservationists and farmers were hoping that the Government would encourage farmers to stop harming the environment with air and water pollution and soil erosion, but the plan will mean few changes.
And in Lancashire, where the Wildlife Trust’s pioneering carbon farm is offering an agricultural solution which can benefit the environment, wildlife and farmers, there is concern that this and similar innovative opportunities will be missed. The concerns have risen as the Government published details of the eagerly awaited scheme to pay farmers for managing land more sustainably, restoring nature and tackling climate change. It comes on the first anniversary of the Agriculture Act – a significant moment revealing the extent of the Government’s ambition to improve the 70 per cent of our land that is farmed since Brexit and our departure from the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. But today’s does not bode well for nature, climate, or farming. Instead of causing air and river pollution, nature-friendly farming can help clean up our countryside and reverse the UK’s label of being one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world to a shining
Photo: Sphagnum moss plugs at the carbon farm at Winmarleigh Moss Photo Credit: Lancashire Wildlife Trust
example where nature is in recovery. That vision is now in peril. Farming accounts for more than 10 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, so transformation is also critical to help tackle the climate emergency. Tom Burditt, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchesster and Merseyside, says: “We’re spitting feathers. This is bad news for nature and bad news for small farmers around the North West, especially all those who love nature and have been working so hard to look after and restore it. “Don’t be led by the positive spin being put out that this is good for soils. That is just a small step in the right direction but from a sustainable and nature friendly farm business point of view this glass is only 10 per cent full. In other words, it is 90 per cent empty. It is a huge missed opportunity for ensuring that our tax payers money is being used to help to deliver the “public goods” we all so badly need like thriving wildlife, cleaner air, less flooding, and the slowing of catastrophic climate change.” Craig Bennett, Chief Executive of The Wildlife Trusts, says: “After leaving the EU, we were promised that the billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money given to farmers would be used to improve our natural world. But today’s publication shows a shocking lack of ambition which does very little to address the climate and nature crises. The Government seems intent on perpetuating the iniquities of the EU’s much derided
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LANCASHIRE & NORTH WEST MAGAZINE
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