17/09/24 Lib Dem party conference; Farmland birds; Peat

Farming Today

It's party conference season and Farming Today will be covering the three main conferences. This week, the Liberal Democrats meet in Brighton. Their relative success in the recent General Election has given them a boost, and many of their new constituencies gained this summer are in rural areas. The big question is budget. Before the election the Liberal Democrats promised £1 billion a year more, for the Environmental Land Management Scheme which replaces old EU payments in England. Different changes are being made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Since the election, it's emerged the Conservative government underspent its DEFRA budget by £358m in the previous parliament. We speak to the environment food and rural affairs spokesperson for the Lib Dems, Tim Farron.

All week we're taking stock of birdlife on farms. The RSPB says farmland bird numbers are still declining for some species, and more needs to be done to improve numbers through habitat creation, and changing farming methods. On the Lowther Estate, near Penrith, in Cumbria, recent changes in grazing, tree planting, even the introduction of beavers to help with wetland creation, are already having positive repercussions on both the range and number of birds choosing to nest and breed there.

The UK has an estimated three million hectares of peatland, both upland and lowland, but it's believed about 80 percent of that is in poor condition. A new report from the International Union for the Convention of Nature shows progress has been made on restoring UK peatlands over the last thirty years but its Peatland Programme also reports that it's unlikely to meet the target to restore two million hectares by 2040.

Presenter = Anna Hill Producer = Rebecca Rooney