15th August 2022 – Pay farmers to restore habitat on least productive farmland, think tank says

Paying farmers to restore natural habitat on England’s least productive land would both boost their income and increase wild bird populations by almost 50% by 2050, according to a new study.

Environmental think tank Green Alliance is calling for the Government to allocate £600 million of the £2.4 billion annual farming budget to restoring peatland, heathland and woodland.

The poorest quality land produces just 0.5% of the food we eat, and in its study Green Alliance found incentivising farmers to return it to nature would boost their income from it by 20%.