Wildlife Boosted by England’s Nature-Friendly Farming Schemes, Study Finds
Butterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife being boosted by England’s nature-friendly farming schemes, new government research has found.
Birds were among the chief beneficiaries of the strategy, particularly ones that largely feed on invertebrates. An average of 25% more breeding birds were found in areas with more eco-friendly schemes.
A shift away from eating meat will be required if agriculture in England is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as more land will need to be used to store nature and carbon, the peer-reviewed study by Natural England, the government advisory body, also warned.
“Under the most ambitious climate change mitigation scenario, food production is expected to decline by up to 25%,” the report reads. “Ambitious combinations of measures, including reducing food waste, using arable land to grow crops for direct human consumption rather than livestock feed (and thus implying a dietary change), and increased productivity on remaining farmland, could fully mitigate expected reductions in food production.”
After the UK left the EU, farmers were no longer part of the Common Agricultural Policy subsidies scheme, which paid land managers according to the acreage they farmed. Instead the devolved nations have set up their own farming payments system. In England, this is the sometimes controversial Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS), which pays farmers to make room for nature by letting hedges grow wilder, or sowing wildflowers for birds and bees on field margins.