England’s bird, butterfly, bee, and bat populations are among the beneficiaries of nature-friendly farming practices introduced under Natural England’s Agri-Environment Schemes (AES), new government research has claimed.
According to an annual report published by the government’s environment adviser last week, on average 25 per cent more breeding birds were found in areas covered by schemes encouraging farmers to protect nature on their land by paying them to provide a range of environmental services.
The latest annual report for Natural England’s Agri-environment Evidence Programme – which featured seven peer-reviewed projects completed during 2022 and 2023 – also found the likes of butterflies, moths, and hoverflies thrived in larger areas of land involved in the AES.
There were an average of 12 more moth species and a 53 per cent increase in butterfly numbers in areas boasting more eco-friendly schemes, for instance, while barbastelle and daubenton’s bats were also found to respond positively to AES approaches applied at a landscape level.
Though these findings offer encouragement after the latest State of Nature report from a coalition of the UK’s leading conservation charities found species across the UK have declined by an average of 19 per cent since 1970, modelling by Natural England also warned that reduced meat consumption will be required if agriculture in England is to ultimately balance the need to produce food with cutting carbon emissions and supporting nature restoration and biodiversity.
“Finite land is under pressure to deliver (among other things) food, timber and fuel production, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation,” the report cautioned.
After exploring nine land-use scenarios through to 2100 based on different combinations of climate mitigation measures, the report found no scenario achieved lower emissions or large increases in bird populations without significant drops in food production.
However, it also stressed that reductions in food production could be delivered without any impact on food security if consumers adopted lower impact diets.
“Under the most ambitious climate change mitigation scenario, food production is expected to decline by up to 25 per cent,” the report added. “Ambitious combinations of measures, including reducing food waste, using arable land to grow crops for direct human consumption rather than livestock feed (and thus implying a dietary change), and increased productivity on remaining farmland, could fully mitigate expected reductions in food production.”
The Climate Change Committee has similarly supported a 35 per cent reduction in meat consumption by 2050, while researchers at the University of Oxford found the environmental impact of a vegan diet is roughly one-third the size of that from diets which include high levels of meat.
Overall, the report suggests policymakers should take steps to make AES more attractive to land managers, provide better advice, guidance, and support to increase the schemes’ effectiveness, and boost monitoring and reporting capabilities.
“This report highlights how AES can bring about benefits beyond the field scale to a landscape scale, helping us move towards our species abundance target,” the report states. “However, there is the potential to redirect and improve schemes to further encourage this trend.”
The report’s findings chime with the Labour Party’s election campaign promises to take action to meet Environment Act targets – including overarching goals to halt the decline of British species by 2030 and protect 30 per cent of land and seas by the same date – as well as to review the government’s existing Environmental Improvement Plan to ensure it is fit for purpose.
Alongside commitments to planting “millions” of trees and banning bee-killing pesticides, Labour also pledged to set a target for half of all food purchased across the public sector to be locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.
Moreover, it promised to create a new land-use framework in England to balance the need for long-term food security with nature recovery and promote regenerative farming through Environment Land Management schemes to protect nature and secure Britain’s long-term food security.
Responding to the report, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay MP stressed the urgent need to address the “enormous risk” that habitat and biodiversity loss poses given the UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.
“Most farmers want to do the right thing for nature and this report clearly shows that government support for nature-friendly farming pays off,” he said. “Now we need to see more of it. Farmers have told me they need reassurance, certainty, and easier access to funding for nature-friendly farming, so it is very disappointing that the Labour government has so far refused to commit to maintaining the current level of support payments.
“I urge the government to show leadership and not only commit to maintaining the current level of funding, but to listen to the many calls, including from the RSPB, National Trust and The Wildlife Trusts, for a massive increase in nature-friendly farming support. We do not have to have an ‘either-or’ between nature restoration and food production; with more leadership from the government we can achieve both.”
A Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said the government will introduce a new deal for farmers which will boost Britain’s food security, restore nature and support rural economic growth.
“We will restore stability and confidence amongst farmers by optimising our schemes and grants, ensuring they produce the right outcomes for all farmers including small, grassland, upland and tenanted farms, while delivering food security and nature recovery in a just and equitable ways,” they added. “The transition to more sustainable practices will not come at the expense of food security.”
Natural England’s report comes just weeks after Defra announced that it will carry out a “rapid review” of legally binding nature targets governing air pollution, tree planting, biodiversity, waste reduction, and other environmental metrics in order to inform a new statutory plan to protect and restore nature.
