Farming

Red Poll cattle graze in the Suffolk River Valleys Environmentally Sensitive Area and the National Trust's National Reserve at Orford Ness. Photo: CPRE

Help beef and sheep farmers get a fair deal
Many sheep and beef farmers are operating at a loss and may give up farming with serious consequences for the management of the countryside. But you can do something to help, by buying British beef and lamb and supporting the National Farmer’s Union (NFU) campaign, Why Beef and Sheep Farming Matters. We are campaigning with the NFU because we believe livestock farming is essential to maintaining the character and quality of landscapes, our wildlife habitats and for our rural communities. The campaign is urging supermarkets to ensure beef and sheep farmers are paid a fair price for their produce.

Farmers help to maintain the character of our landscapes
Without farmers to maintain our countryside, familiar landscape features such as hedgerows, drystone walls, pastures, meadows, woods, and traditional barns, that contribute to the unique character of the English countryside, could disappear. Livestock farming is particularly important to the countryside, as a key part of local food networks and for maintaining landscape character and wildlife habitats.

An example of how livestock farming helps maintain wildlife habitats is the Red Poll breed of Suffolk cattle that graze an Environmentally Sensitive Area and National Nature Reserve at Orford Ness ensuring the habitat is suitable for nesting waders. This is just one example and was featured in our report The Real Choice about the benefits of local food networks.

You can find out more about the work farmers do in maintaining the countryside in our report Living Landscapes which reveals the cost to farmers of managing our landscape features.

A fair price for milk
We believe that farmers should get a fair price for milk to reflect the true cost of production. Farmers want to find out where the difference between what they receive when the milk leaves the farm gate and what it is sold for on the supermarket shelf and doorstep is going.

We’re concerned about the effects on the environment of a decline in dairy production. As our report Living Landscapes revealed the countryside is heavily reliant on farmers to manage our landscapes and some habitats rely on a mix of sheep and cattle grazing, sometimes extensively.

Ideally, consumers should try to buy milk from local farmers, either directly or at local shops or by using a milkman to keep the supply chain short and to sustain the local food economy. Our report the Real Choice highlighted the importance of local food networks and the complex interactions between producers, processors and retailers.