This week is your last chance to enter the Nature of Farming Award for 2013 – the UK’s largest farm wildlife competition. Entry closes on 18th April – yes, that’s next Thursday.
But why should you spend some of your valuable time taking part in an Award?
For one thing, getting recognition for the great work you do for wildlife is satisfying – and also good for your business. And who would turn that down in these challenging times?
Somerset and Carolyne Charrington, winners of the Nature of Farming Award 2011, said:
“There has been a positive impact on the holiday cottages - great advance bookings from new guests, and regular guests booking for [2 years time] so that they can be sure of keeping their slot! We have met a lot of people who had voted for us, and that has been great. Locally people have been very positive about a Mull farm winning a national award.”
Taking part in the Award also helps share techniques amongst the farming community, so all farmers across the UK benefit from the collective experience and knowledge of the farming community.
But its not just farmers. The Award also raises the wider profile of the essential roles that farmers have in our society. For example, Henry Edmunds, winner of the Nature of Farming Award 2012, was celebrated by BBC Radio 4 during their enormously popular Food and Farming Awards.
And we do need to raise the profile of farmers. The people of the UK (everyone, not just farmers) and our wildlife need a healthy, sustainable agriculture industry. So we need the UK public to support the UK farmers delivering that industry. Which means they need to understand enough about farming to care about it.
I know I keep banging on about it, but I remain very disturbed by LEAF’s report last year that showed such a shocking lack of knowledge about where food comes from. We recently conducted an anonymous survey asking people some simple questions about how much they know about farming, and the results were sadly unsurprising. Almost 28,000 people took part, and a resounding 62% of respondents said they knew ‘nothing/very little about farming’.
But happily over 97% were interested in the way our countryside is farmed. And this was further backed up when we asked them why they voted in the Nature of Farming Award. You may expect a good chunk voted because it entered them in to a free prize draw. It is true a free prize can help capture attention initially, but they spent the time filling in the form because they wanted to support wildlife-friendly farmers. A total of 86% said the number 1 reason they voted was either ‘I wanted to show support for all wildlife-friendly farmers’ or ‘I wanted to help the RSPB support wildlife-friendly farmers’.
So that all adds up to why you should enter today. Download your application form at www.rspb.org.uk/natureoffarming
Good luck!
The Nature of Farming Award is funded by the EU Life+ programme, safeguarding the future of our farmland birds under the EU Birds Directive.
Image: Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)