Bury St Edmunds farm signs up to Jordans Cereal / The Wildlife Trust initiative to save land for wildlife to prosper

Farmers are being asked to consider a technique to encourage sustainability after a project has encouraged wildlife on to land.

Stephen Honeywood, who works at Halls Farm, near Bury St Edmunds, is one of 31 farmers across the UK to have signed up to put at least 10 per cent of his land aside for nature.

On the fifth anniversary of the project, proponents Jordans Cereals and The Wildlife Trusts are celebrating saving 4,000 hectares – an area roughly the size of Oxford.

He said: “Since signing up to the Jordans Farm Partnership (JFP) we’ve seen a significant increase in wildlife on Halls Farm.

“Currently around 12 per cent of the land on Halls Farm is set aside for nature – we do this by allowing hedges to thicken, and by sowing areas of farmland with cover crops that encourage wild birds and pollinating insects. We work closely with our JFP manager at Suffolk Wildlife Trust, who aids us in drawing up and implementing a conservation plan each year. The trust also helps us monitor the wildlife on the farm. We now have over seventy species of bird visiting the farm, including barn owls. We’ve also seen increases in silver-washed fritillary butterflies. It’s really encouraging to see the gains we’ve made in recent years. Ensuring that we are farming in a way that helps wildlife to thrive is very important to me, and the Jordans Farm Partnership allows us to do this.”

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said it was ‘encouraging’ to see the collective impact of ‘creating and maintaining habitat for wildlife in what can often be an inhospitable environment’. He added: “Given that large swathes of the UK’s land is used for agriculture, farmers have a vital role to play in nature’s recovery.”

He said the trust’s farm advisors worked with Jordans farmers to develop and progress plans.

“We have a long way to go,” Mr Bennett continued. “We’re living amidst a nature and climate crisis, and know that to turn things around we need to see at least 30 per cent of our land managed in this way.

“This showcases what can be achieved if we choose to farm in a sustainable way – something that would have a huge impact if adopted more widely – and we hope others will take note.”

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