Site Last Updated
6th December 2009

Farming and Wildlife

Farming is so often romanticised in modern culture, and yet it is first and foremost an industry.  The difference that sometimes obscures this fact is that we either live on the factory floor or pass through it regularly.  Of course, part of the success of this business is tied up with  the wildlife that simply lives on the factory floor and scavenges or hunts there.

Farming and Wildlife - Four page Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology Note, December 2005 - download the PDF file.  These Notes are often informative and are commissioned by MPs to help them understand a wide range of issues.  You can browse them here.

Farmland covers approximately three quarters of the United Kingdom and has historically provided a wide range of habitats for wildlife. Many British species are adapted to living in a farmed landscape, so efforts to conserve wildlife are often concentrated within managed ecosystems. Much of the wildlife that inhabits farmland has declined over recent decades. The reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy has presented an opportunity for farmers to be rewarded for protecting wildlife. This POSTnote examines the current status of wildlife on farms. It reviews the options available to farmers for wildlife conservation and explores the implications of future changes to the countryside.