If you’re a reader of Martin Harper’s blog, you will have seen that together with other partners, the RSPB has set out a shared vision for a post-Brexit countryside.
As major stakeholders in how the countryside is managed, farmers have a significant role to play in helping our countryside to flourish with wildlife, as well as producing the food on which we all depend.
Whichever way you voted, the decision to leave the EU now presents the UK with an opportunity to develop a domestic agriculture policy that can deliver both those things in real, demonstrable terms. Our specialist farmland wildlife needs adequate support if we are to see any improvement in the current picture, but our farmers also need the right support to enable them to deliver the necessary measures that wildlife needs to thrive.
Image: Grahame Madge (c) RSPB
For many of the farmers that we work with, protecting and enhancing the natural features of their farm for wildlife is already an important, integrated part of their management – so we’ve asked a few of them to share their thoughts on what they would like to see as we move towards a UK that exists outside of the EU.
Image: rspb-images.com
Over the next few days, we will be posting their thoughts on the shape that a future agriculture policy could take to achieve those plentiful food and abundant wildlife objectives, and why they feel it’s important.
The first in our series takes us to Dumfriesshire, Scotland where beef and sheep farmer Michael Clarke farms with his wife Shirley. Read Michael's thoughts here.
The series continues with contributions from Henry Edmunds here, Jake Fiennes here and Martyn Bragg here.