Committing 10 per cent of your land to environmental stewardship may appear a field margin too far. But a Suffolk farmer growing winter oats under the Conservation Grade protocol reckons wildlife and crop production have both benefited his farm.
Suffolk farmer Stephen Honeywood is in no doubt there has to be a balance between intensive crop production and wildlife-friendly habitats on UK farms.
He also believes while his farm lends itself to creating a patchwork of habitat that has seen bird and butterfly numbers soar, there are other farms where wildlife conservation is not so straightforward to achieve.
“Our farm layout and field boundaries have changed very little since the first detailed Ordnance Survey mapping took place in 1841, but if I were farming a 100 hectare block of land with large fields and was asked to take 10 per cent of land out of production, it would prove to be a greater challenge,” he says.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment