Farming

Mixed Farmland in Spain
Mixed Farmland in Spain

About half of the land in Europe is used for agriculture. Farming originally created diverse habitats. However, subsidies from governments have combined with modern technology to encourage intensified and less varied land-use. Some farming has started to harm other important services from the land, which include the refreshment of air and water, the creation of soil and the pollination of plants, the regulation of floods, pests and diseases and the provision of recreation.

Fortunately, state payments are being changed to maintain and restore for society the services from land. Private payments for recreation can conserve too. There is much information on how to the riches of nature can be increased at a minimal cost to productive cultivation, and how this cost can be offset by state and private funding. However, the information is spread across many countries and institutes. Naturalliance seeks to bring this information together in one place, also with data on regulations, other costs, subsidies, markets and weather; you can then be helped to combine this information with personal knowledge, on your crops, soils, other habitats, livestock, wild species and management.

BEST PRACTICE. Loddington Estate, in the midlands of England, is our first example of how farming can benefit from wild resources on the land.

PRODUCTION. Farm profits can also benefit from guidance on how best to manage crops and livestock. Naturalliance aims to help by providing links to the best research and advice available on farming sustainably.

PROBLEM-SOLVING. Problems from pests and diseases need to be solved in ways that are efficient immediately and in the long term, Naturalliance aims to provide links to the best research and advice on that too.

MAPPING. The ultimate intention is to build all the general and personal knowledge into digital mapping systems that work as easily as the coloured cues in a word-processor, or the GPS-guidance (sat-nav) in a car. This will take time, but as a start there is a simple mapping tool and suggestions for projects that use it.

Please REGISTER, to help us help you to:

• Pass land to your children in better heart than you received it;
• Share your experiences in exchange for knowledge gained from others;
• Benefit from the recreational use of your land and its other services to society;
• Gain more from natural riches than the costs of the management needed to secure them.

When you register, you can complete our SURVEY to tell us what information you would most like.

 
is supported by
TESS Logo Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Logo Anatrack Ltd Logo Tero Consulting Logo COUNT Partner International Union for Conservation of Nature Logo