Very exciting to be here. But im trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasnt it . It was. My husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. And every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. And we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. Mm. 17 years on, we were £1. 5 million in debt, tearing our hair out and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. Were walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and its an absolute pig to farm. So you were literally close to going out of business . Yeah, the farm was a failing business. And we did everything we could. We diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. We sold ice cream. We did everything we could. But always it was this clay that was against us. So lets just stop for a second and look a
ah, well, it s actually still, for me, very exciting to be here. but i m trying to understand what has happened to this land of yours, because when you arrived here, this was an intensively farmed land, wasn t it? it was. my husband, charlie, inherited it from his grandparents when he was in his early 20s, and this was back in the 1980s. and every inch of the land was ploughed, it was producing arable crops and dairy. and we fully expected to be farmers for the rest of our lives. mm. 17 years on, we were £1.5 million in debt, tearing our hair out, and realised that, you know, this is very marginal land. we re walking on 320 metres of clay, over a bedrock of limestone, and it s an absolute pig to farm. so you were literally close to going out of business? yeah, the farm was a failing business. and we did everything we could. we diversified, we tried different crops, we tried different cows. we sold ice cream. we did everything we could. but always it was this clay that was ag
i think good agricultural land will always be profitable, so that s not at risk. this was marginal land that was losing money. so we re seeing, in europe, across europe, we re seeing 30 million acres of land hectares of land, sorry an area the size of belgium every three years falling out of agricultural production on marginal land because it s just not profitable and there s no lifestyle in it. there s no hope in it forfarmers. so they re leaving the land. so what do we do with this land? do we just abandon it? or do we do something much more interesting and put free roaming animals in? do we restore natural water systems and let something much more dynamic happen, which will benefit biodiversity and carbon storage? you know, these are really important, vital ecosystem services that humanity needs. it s notjust let s bring back some birds and butterflies . it is fundamental to the life support system on earth. i have one big question about one element of it,
actually so profitable now to consider re wilding? actually so profitable now to consider re- wilding?- consider re- wilding? good agricultural consider re- wilding? good agricultural land consider re- wilding? good agricultural land will - consider re- wilding? good agricultural land will always be profitable. that is not at risk. this was marginal [and that was losing money. we are seeing in europe, across europe we are seeing 30 million hectares of land, an area the size of belgium every three years falling out of agricultural production on marginal [and because it is just not profitable and there is no lifestyle in, there is no hopein is no lifestyle in, there is no hope in it forfarmers. so they are leaving the land. so what do we do with this land? we just abandon it or do we do something much more interesting and put freeroaming animals in, do we restore natural water systems and let something much more dynamic happen which will benefit biodiversity and carbon storage. thes
to consider rewilding? no. i think good agricultural land will always be profitable, so that s not at risk. this was marginal land that was losing money. so we re seeing, in europe, across europe, we re seeing 30 million acres of land hectares of land, sorry an area the size of belgium every three years falling out of agricultural production on marginal land because it sjust not profitable and there s no lifestyle in it. there s no hope in it forfarmers. so they re leaving the land. so what do we do with this land? do we just abandon it? or do we do something much more interesting and put free roaming animals in? do we restore natural water systems and let something much more dynamic happen, which will benefit biodiversity and carbon storage? you know, these are really important, vital ecosystem services that humanity needs. it s notjust let s bring back some birds and butterflies . it is fundamental to the life support system on earth. i have one big question