GWCT News Blog

In the wake of COP26, climate change is something many of us are thinking about – and rightly so. Following COP21 in 2015, 195 nations committed to try to keep the global average temperature no more than 2°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, aiming for less than 1.5°C of warming. You might then be asking, why 1.5°C?

Speaking at this year’s Oxford Farming Conference, NFU President Minette Batters hailed the positive impact of Britain’s farmers, describing them as working conservationists and urging politicians to remember the people who lay at the heart of a better future.

Environment Secretary, George Eustice MP, has announced the payment rates farmers will receive for the environmental measures they carry out on their land in a new scheme called the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).

This summer, GWCT scientists were working near Exmoor, looking at the effect that winter game crop plots may have had on breeding songbirds the subsequent spring. 

The recent purchase of Pentwyn Farm by the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust has raised much discussion across farming communities where farms are being bought up by non-farming interests to plant trees or focus purely on biodiversity.

Research shows that allocating just 2.2% of a farm to flower-rich habitat more than doubled the density of bumblebee colonies, which in turn boosts productivity.

Joe Stanley provides an update from the GWCT's Allerton Project demonstration farm.

It is important that, in addition to rewarding farmers and estate managers for planting new hedgerows, any policy should support them to look after what we already have and improve and enhance existing hedgerows.

Joe Stanley reports from his new home in our great countryside – the Allerton Project on the Leicestershire/Rutland border at the delightful village of Loddington.

Defra has launched a consultation and we would love to hear your views before we respond.