BASF held an event at one of their Demonstration Farms today. There were some highly influential visitors there, including RT Hon Jim Paice (Minister of State for Agriculture), Helen Phillips (Chief Executive for Natural England) and Meurig Raymond (Deputy President of NFU). There were also some good friends from the small world of environmental advisors, including Peter Thompson (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust), Jim Egan (FWAG) and Mike Green (NE).
It was my first visit to the farm of Andrew and William Pitts, and we were shown some very impressive seed crops and nectar crops for wildlife. Discussing their achievements with Andrew and William, it is clear that RSPB and wildlife-friendly farmers want the same things from our farmed countryside. Indeed, there was a general shared agreement of what we want across the whole room. We may occassionally differ in how we best achieve it, but if our objectives are the same, what could possibly go wrong ;-)
I think we all learnt something today. For me, it was how Andrew and William adopt mixed cropping without foregoing the financial benefits of block-cropping: sow crops in linear strips across the farm, so that you can manage the crops effectively, yet still have a diversity of crops in a small area.