Nature-friendly farming producing food and wildlife
Nature recovery can and should go hand in hand with producing food, and there are lots of options and opportunities to farm in a way that is better for nature, but is also a productive and sustainable way of producing food. With support and advice, every owner, tenant, grazier and manager can fulfil their potential in doing their bit to help nature.
Peak District farmers are proud to produce high quality meat and milk. Whether the main objective is food production or nature conservation, grazing using livestock is a key tool in managing the diversity of habitats across the Peak District. Those who consume meat and dairy products need to think carefully about how it’s been produced, and farmers in the Peak District can fulfil the appetite for animal products produced locally in a more nature-friendly way.
As managers of the land, farmers also deliver other, often unseen, benefits to people. Farmers, land owners and managers have the potential to make the Peak District a ‘Super Delivery Area’ for public goods.
Some changes may be subject to Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations (opens new window).
# For nature
- With many species that were once common in decline, making space for nature on farmland will be key to helping these species thrive into the future.
- A network of diverse grasslands and other habitats can provide the three things wildlife generally needs – food, nesting, and shelter – all close together so they are not expending energy travelling between them.
- Grazing livestock can create different sward heights and structures for different species.
- Mixed farming can increase the variety of species that use farmland. Mixed systems, or different systems in close proximity, can support species that have different needs during their life cycle, such as lapwing and yellow wagtail.
- Buffer strips and margins around pastures, silage and arable fields create corridors to enable species, and their genes, to move through the landscape, making populations more resilient.
- Rough and structurally diverse grassland, buffers and margins provide habitat for small mammals, and in turn hunting for birds of prey and owls.
- Incorporating flowering plants, or sowing herbal leys, can provide nectar for butterflies and other insects. At scale, food can be available throughout the season.
- Livestock manure, depending on treatment, can provide an essential resource for some fungi and a wide range of invertebrates, providing food in turn for farmland birds such as swallows.
- Well-managed crops can be home to birds such as grey partridge, skylark and arable plants.
- Sensitively managed hedgerows and boundary trees provide nectar for invertebrates, food such as berries for birds and habitat for small mammals.
- Dry stone walls are used by nesting birds such as song thrush, and amphibians shelter and hibernate in them, as well as allowing them to move between ponds.
# What else can nature-friendly farming deliver?
Quality meat products, often grass-fed, that are high in essential nutrients as part of a healthy balanced diet.
Demonstrating food production alongside nature recovery helps people understand where their food comes from and make informed buying choices.
Locally produced food, reducing food miles and limiting wildlife issues elsewhere, in places using more intensive production methods.
Permanent grasslands, particularly those with healthy soils high in organic matter, and low or no slurry or inorganic fertilizer inputs, fix and store large amounts of carbon (opens new window).
Healthy soils have a larger water storage capacity, so can help slow the flow of water and reduce flood risk.
Having a diversity of habitats and plant species can provide resilience to the farm business and adaptation to fluctuations in weather as a result of climate change. A mix of species may also extend growing season and forage.
A higher sward, and moving stock regularly can reduce worm burden. Including species with anthelmintic properties, such as chicory or birds-foot trefoil, can help treat worms naturally. Less use of artificial worming products, and healthy soils, can also support dung beetles, which break down dung pats 1.5 times quicker (opens new window) than fungi and weather alone, reducing the chance of passing on worms and other diseases, saving the U.K. cattle industry £367 million each year. (opens new window)
Woodland, trees and scrub provide food, shade and shelter for grazing animals. Trees and hedges help regulate temperature and air flow, stabilising sheep’s body temperatures in adverse conditions (opens new window).
How food is produced can help share the story of making space for nature.
Farming is part of the cultural heritage of the Peak District, and will continue to shape our landscapes for the future.
Species like waders are easily visible, enigmatic species that can facilitate engagement and enjoyment in nature.
# In practice
- Grazing livestock can be incorporated into almost all farming systems, including a wilder approach. Native and traditional breeds usually allow for easier integration with nature, but multi-use breeds can also work well.
- Aim to create different sward heights and structures. Grazing cattle generally create the best grass mosaics.
- Agroforestry, such as wood and scrub pasture, using a variety of species, can be planted, sown and/or left to colonise naturally if a seed source is nearby. Grazed pasture can incorporate mature trees, or scattered small trees and scrub, or both. Pollards or coppices could produce wood products or fuel.
- Margins of rough grassland can be sown or fenced off to establish next to any farmed land use, including silage fields. Establish margins or buffer strips that can be practically managed with the rest of the field, for example margins around silage fields can be aftermath grazed with the rest of the field, with no extra need for fencing.
- Herbal leys (opens new window) – a mix of grasses, legumes and herbs – can be established using a variety of techniques, with benefits to forage, productivity, livestock health and soil fertility.
- Weed control may be needed on high fertility soils.
- See what worked best for White Peak Field Trials (opens new window) farmers.
- Connect isolated nature-rich habitats using hedgerows and/or trees, and gap up existing hedgerows to restore connectivity. Boundaries should include a minimum of one metre buffer strip either side.
- Cut hedgerows in alternate years or trim half each year, or less often, unless needed for road, track or footpath maintenance. Hawthorn, for example, only develop flowers on growth at least two years old.
- Information for managing hedgerows for wildlife is available from Hedgelink (opens new window).
- Regenerative farming is an approach, led by farmers, to restore the health of soils naturally by reducing artificial inputs and using holistic grazing systems. The approach to regenerative farming is unique to each farm, meaning a variety of practices can be adopted and adapted to suit soil types and enterprises. The Groundswell Festival (opens new window) provides a forum to learn about the theory and practical applications of regenerative farming.
- Measure soil health. Some measurements can be done on farm, for example earthworm counts, while some need soil to be sent to a laboratory for testing.