Stephanie Landymore, Parliamentary Campaigns Officer, gives an update on how we’re showing government that wildlife-friendly farming is important to tens of thousands of people across the country.
Over the past six months, we’ve heard very positive noises from the Westminster Government around support for wildlife-friendly farming, and we were pleased to hear them re-iterated by George Eustice, the new farming Minister, at our joint farmer lobby in Parliament yesterday.
We’ve been campaigning for increased support for wildlife-friendly farming since the beginning of this round of CAP reforms, and many farmers and supporters have joined us throughout the process, writing to and emailing their MEPs and MPs, asking Cameron to ‘Vote for Nature’ in the European negotiations over the CAP budget and most recently voting in this year’s Nature of Farming Award championing those farmers doing outstanding things for wildlife.
To show the government that this support is still going strong, we’re encouraging not just farmers but all our supporters themselves to ‘Vote for Nature’. We've asked them “Do you think government should invest in farming that creates a countryside richer in nature?” – add your vote at www.rspb.org.uk/VoteforNature.
I was inspired to see so many farmers in Westminster yesterday showing MPs their passion for wildlife on their farms – it was a real demonstration that nature matters to successful business people running profitable farms of all types and scales and is very relevant to a vibrant rural community and economy.
We’re expecting the consultation on CAP implementation in England any day now and will be encouraging our supporters to speak up again and respond to the consultation. And of course Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are also making the same decisions imminently. Watch this space to find out how else you can get involved and make your voice heard!