Early Oat Fields, Haregill Lodge Farm, Ellingstring, North Yorkshire - Paul Harris/2020VISION
Fund wildlife-friendly farming
By supporting farmers to shift towards regenerative, nature-friendly methods, farming has huge potential to deliver a green rural renewal. Farming is too often unsustainable, but with management of over 70% of UK land, farmers should be a significant part of the solution.
The destruction of nature and the impacts of climate change are the biggest threats to food security in the UK. Food production relies on healthy soils, clean water, and resilience to climate change. But farming is one of the main causes of wildlife declines, as well as the leading cause of river pollution in England. Restoring nature on farms will bring many benefits, not just for wildlife but also for farmers. Working with nature can increase farm profits and resilience, reduce costs, and maintain or even improve yields.
Many farmers and land managers have gone to great lengths to support wildlife without being adequately rewarded. The real terms value of the budget for environmental farming has already fallen by a third since 2010. Not investing properly means everyone loses.
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© Simon Rawles
Increase the budget for wildlife-friendly farming
To reverse the decline of nature by 2030, and secure the UK’s long term food security, the budget to support wildlife-friendly farming should be increased to at least £4.4 billion a year. This will ensure the agricultural transition is fair to farmers and better for wildlife, while providing healthier and more affordable food for all members of society.
Buff-tailed bumblebee © Vaughn Matthews
Halve pesticide use
The catastrophic decline of insects is having a huge effect on the rest of the natural world. Insects are the canaries in the coal mine – their collapse is an alarm bell that must not be ignored. To save the future of insects – and all life that depends on them – the next UK Government must halve pesticide use by 2030 and maintain all bans on of bee-killing and human-health-harming neonicotinoids once and for all.
Credit: Paul Harris/2020VISION
Help farmers reduce emissions and adapt to climate change
The extreme heat, wildfires, and droughts in 2022 provided a taste of the reality to come. Farmers need much more support to adapt to climate change and to help meet the UK’s climate goals, as well as reducing their emissions. Adaptation and mitigation need to be embedded in farm payment schemes; farmers need better information about how farming with nature can increase their resilience; and a land use strategy is needed that considers how food production needs to change in the UK in response to climate change.
