Butterflies, bees and bats are among the wildlife encouraged by England’s nature-friendly farming schemes, new government research found
Birds have been one of the main beneficiaries of the strategy, especially those that feed largely 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 needed 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’s advisory body, also found warned.
“Under the most ambitious climate change mitigation scenario, food production is expected to decline by up to 25%,” the report said. “Ambitious combinations of measures, including reducing food waste, using arable land to grow crops for direct human consumption rather than animal feed (thus implying a change in diet), and increased productivity on remaining agricultural land, could offset expected reductions in food production fully softened. “
After the UK left the EU, farmers were no longer part of the Common Agricultural Policy subsidy scheme, which paid land managers according to the area they farmed. Instead, the devolved nations set up their own farming payment system. In England it is the sometimes controversial Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS), which pays farmers to make room for nature by growing hedges wilder, or sowing wildflowers for birds and bees on field edges.
Anecdotally, participating farmers in the schemes noticed more wildlife, but so far no data was available. The new government studies found that more mobile creatures, such as butterflies, moths and hoverflies, fared better when larger areas of land – a large farm or multiple small neighbors – were involved in the scheme.
Surveyed squares with high levels of eco-friendly schemes in the surrounding landscape had an average of 117 more butterflies (a 53% increase), compared to the mean for squares with low scores for schemes in the surrounding landscape. There were on average 12 more moth species in areas with more eco-friendly schemes. Smaller, less mobile insects have been boosted in smaller, more local areas that have joined the schemes. Numbers of barbatelles and Daubenton’s bats have also been found to respond positively to eco-friendly schemes at the landscape level.
Martin Lines, CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, told the Guardian: “The evidence in the Natural England report confirms what many nature-friendly farmers find: the delivery of good quality habitats, supported by public money, helps to stop or even reverse nature’s decline. Many farmers are happy that their hard work is showing positive results, and with the support of well-funded ELMS, more farmers can deliver or help reverse nature’s decline.”
The report also modeled future land use, balancing the need to produce food with reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making room for wildlife. It warns that “finite land is under pressure to deliver (among other things) food, timber and fuel production, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Currently, the land sector (agriculture, forestry and peatlands) is a significant greenhouse gas emitter and contributor to climate change.”
Nine land-use scenarios were investigated, each representing an alternative UK land-use future, deploying up to 10 land-based climate change mitigation measures in different combinations. Each scenario was run from a 2015 baseline to 2100, in five-year intervals. Neither scenario produced strong reductions in greenhouse gas emissions or large increases in bird populations without significant declines in food production. Labor and the Conservatives have been reluctant to say that people in the UK should eat less meat, but the previous food tsar Henry Dimbleby said meat consumption should be reduced by 30% to make way for growing crops for human consumption rather than animal feed. The Committee on Climate Change similarly recommended a 35% reduction in meat consumption by 2050.
Farmers have recently warned that they will find it difficult to participate in ELMS if the amount they are paid drops, as they have to reuse land previously used for food production to help wildlife, as well as face additional pressures from extreme weather and face price. inflation. The schemes were put in place by the previous Conservative government, and the new Labor administration has refused to commit to the current £2.4bn annual budget.
