David Attenboroughs latest TV series Wild Isles is delightful, astonishing, and harrowing in equal measure. His incredible insights into the natural world are inspiring. But, as he points out, the UK is one of the most nature-depleted places on Earth.

Helen Browning, the chief executive of the Soil Association, will be speaking at the SMALL IS THE FUTURE event taking place on Saturday, 17 June 2023. Speakers include Dr Ann Pettifor, Charlie Hertzog Young, Gareth Dale Professor Herbert Girardet. Tickets for the online event are on sale at 3 now!

He reveals shocking statistics. Over the last 50 years, 38 million birds have vanished from our skies, 97 per cent of our wildflower meadows have been lost, and a quarter of all our mammals are now at risk of extinction.

Historic habitat loss due to intensive agriculture has caused bird numbers to greatly reduce, natures champion points out in the Grasslands episode. In short, Britains wildlife is in trouble.

Groundswell

But the damage is not irreversible, as the eagerly anticipated Save our Wild Isles documentary, now available on BBC iPlayer highlighted. There is a way of farming that doesnt rely on destructive pesticides and instead focuses on creating homes for predatory insects that eat crop pests.

There is a way of farming that uses plants to fertilise soils and refuses to use the chemical products that pollute our land and waters. This is farming organically.

With nature in crisis and 50 per cent more wildlife on average on organic farms, it is a severe injustice to people, farmers, and nature that organic is seen as niche, exclusive or radical.

For more than 50 years, organic farmers have been pioneering practices that care for nature above and below the ground. Harmful chemicals are banned, contributing to there being a third more species overall on their farms, on average, including 50 per cent more pollinators and 20 percent more bird species.

It is a travesty that only around three percent of British farmland is organic. But there is hope change is in the air. There is a groundswell of nature-friendly farming in the UK farming scene.

Incentives

While fully certified organic farms remain a minority, the principles and methods of farming that underpin the organic movement are starting to get recognition as a vital solution for restoring nature.

Organic pioneers and the surge in regenerative and agroecological farming have shown it is entirely possible for farming to make space for nature. and that wildlife is crucial for producing good food.

Those behind the Saving Our Wild Isles documentary and campaign point out that nature is our life support. We cannot live without it. Farming in harmony with wildlife does not need to seem like a luxury it should and can be a priority.

Link:

Embracing organic can save our wild isles - The Ecologist