Thursday 18th November was a black day for wildlife-friendly farmers, as FWAG went into administration after being the largest supplier of environmental advice to the agriculture sector for the last 42 years. They supported the greatest number of agri-environment scheme applications of any organisation across the UK, and they leave a big hole in the capacity for environmental advice provision to farmers. The press coverage cited the impact of government spending cuts on environmental funding as being a major contributing factor.

The sad demise of FWAG, raises questions about how farmers can access good, impartial advice to enable them to improve the environment on their farms and help ensure the government achieves its ambitions for the farmed countryside. We believe that there is an important role for Defra and its agencies in setting out the framework for farm advice to ensure both quality and universality of environmental advice for farmers. This should not be left entirely to the market.