Call to pay farmers to restore habitats on poorest quality land to bring boost to rural communities

Think tank Green Alliance, finding the least productive 10 per cent of land in England produces only around 0.5 per cent of the food we eat, calls for a re-think.

Paying farmers to restore natural habitats in places like the North York Moors and Yorkshire Dales would not only boost incomes by 20 per cent, it argues, but support plummeting bird populations and slash emissions.

Today’s report, Land of Opportunity, urges the government to allocate £600m of the £2.4bn annual farming budget to restoring native woodland, peatland and heath.

Space for nature

Tom Lancaster, head of farming and land management policy for the charity, warned that land is a “finite resource”, with many competing demands upon it.

“We need space for nature, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and food and timber production,” he said. “This report shows the vital role farmers and land managers will play in achieving all this and more.

“They need better support to tackle the nature and climate crises, whilst providing the food we need now, and in the future.”

Farmers in England are currently braced against a difficult landscape with record temperatures, soaring costs and new trade deals, alongside unprecedented drought.

Seventy percent of England’s land is used for agriculture, and the industry accounts for about 12 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions for the UK overall.

Green Alliance has outlined how change could be delivered, claiming its plan has the potential to deliver over half the carbon savings needed from agriculture and land use by 2035.

Three-stranded system

The system would see three elements - with the first being to use the country’s least productive land to provide greenhouse gas removal and to expand habitat for wildlife.

The second strand would see the majority of food grown on the most fertile land, with farmers supported to reduce fertiliser and pesticide use to boost sustainability without lowering yields.

Finally, farmers of the remaining land would be offered incentives to create more space for nature, even if it results in a fall in production.

Under it’s report, Green Alliance argues that incentivising farmers to return the lowest quality land to nature could boost their income from it by up to a fifth.

In the short term, it claims, allocating £600m to recover 10 per cent of the English landscape would provide farmers with an opportunity to establish more stable incomes.

In the longer term, it would provide over half the carbon savings needed from agriculture and land use by 2035, and increase bird populations by almost 50 per cent by 2050.

Opportunity

And amid controversy over budgets and plans outlined in post-Brexit agendas, there are concerns from the think tank that opportunity may be lost.

James Elliott, senior policy adviser at Green Alliance, said: “The government looked set to realise a genuine Brexit opportunity when developing new plans for agriculture, but there are now fears we will return to a climate destructive EU-style system or ignite a race to the bottom where farmers and the environment both lose.

“This is about making sure we use the least productive land in the best way - boosting farmer incomes while restoring nature and starting to tackle the increasingly destructive effects of climate change.”

Defra was approached for comment.

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