you sure as hell know that something
weird is going on down on the farm when
you have on the one hand a campaign
group like rewilding britain heaping
praise on of all people def or the
government's agricultural department now
why because they are heralding what
government is proposes proposing of
something towards a green light to the
rewilding movement but it's very early
days and that might be over egging it
somewhat but there's no doubt the
government is pointing towards
rethinking what farmers do what they
produce of course it's food but do they
not also with the right subsidies and
payments and incentives also safeguard a
biosphere which let's face it across
these islands not just in England is in
danger of going over a cliff
and that's why we've been out in the
glory that is the Pennines and today in
Cumbria on the fells too many sheep too
few trees the Pennine landscape we
pretend is natural and is anything but I
think the countryside you know I think
it needs a massive renaissance not a
revolution yesterday
Roger tempests plan to re wild more than
300 hectares of these fells and fields
with 600,000 trees was radical
today it's government policy in all but
name we've been here 32 generations
trying to look after this bit of land in
the back of yorkshire and you know it's
our duty the world's in you know
environmental crisis social crisis it's
time to act so the government now
proposes paying farmers for a lot more
than food
natural flood protection Rhea
forestation public land access and the
return of our lost biodiversity all of
that now possible because of brexit
breakfast enables us to escape from the
Common Agricultural Policy which was was
driving farmers to basically farm the
land in an unsustainable way which which
familiar with you were the more money
you got yes that's right and and you
know it wasn't their choice it's not
their fault it's just that's what the
policies drove and and it's quite clear
that it hasn't worked in terms of the
sustainable future for agricultural land
because the soils have degraded we have
more and more problems with water
rushing off and these these
billiard-table landscapes causing
flooding downstream so the new
arrangement which is being proposed by
government is that farmers are rewarded
for delivering public goods like better
flood risk management like water quality
carbon sequestration better biodiversity
etc but paying landowners and farmers to
restore biodiversity ruined by too many
sheep and too few trees may mean fewer
sheep farmers it's also a lot of
livelihood isn't it's a lot of upland
farmers how do they come with you on
this journey there's so much I mean of
farms I didn't want statistic is at the
moment there's 70% of farms have an
income separate from the farm
Yunos huge change going on anyway but in
terms of I think they'll be room I mean
some of the types of farming are they
are dying out they are dying out it's
going to be a thing of the past and
these new ways are going to come forward
but that's always been the case hasn't
it changing landscape changing farming
the National Farmers Union is concerned
all this could lower production and the
threat of cheap meat imports from
countries with lower welfare and food
safety standards is real
they call it wild ennerdale one of
England's most established and
successful Wilding projects run by
United Utilities the Forestry Commission
National Trust amongst others for almost
twenty years now in the Lake District
starting to see more the territories
different species are coming back green
woodpeckers a nice example of that an
increasing dipper in the river we've
seen more more dica which is fantastic
Marsh for Tillery butterfly extinct in
Cumbria in the 1970s we brought maestro
Tillery back again just over 10 years
ago looks like something out of Canada
but in fact this is an English tenant
farm
now if the government serious and if the
government delivers on what it's talking
about it will make in future
safeguarding areas like this and their
enormous biodiversity a part of
conventional farming not just focusing
on food production alone once a concrete
Ford stood here now it's been returned
to the natural river course a key fish
spawning ground for arctic char
far fewer sheep means trees naturally
reseed the fell side row and large birch
oak Holly and more
today the wild roaming Galloway herd was
penned for blood testing by the vet
otherwise you'd be lucky to see them
grazing semi wild over fell and forest
here there is a matriarch that will
decide when he stands to move up the
valley or further away or under cover
under under the trees so so she you can
observe from a distance and see how she
will call others will respond it's
amazingly in the sand stand back and
watch how they how they act totally
different from the cows at home in the
fields his flock of herd week sheep has
radically reduced in number yet he'll
farming he says has never been as much
fun never been easier and never made
money like now 14 years ago there's some
people thought were a bit strange
turning away from full-on productive
content of our cattle farming so now we
just have galleries and and Publix and
traditional type of farming and we only
have to look back to see how things were
doing a lot of years ago and consider
why they were doing that we're because
he fits best to the land and if it
breasted the environment and the climate
and those are all things we need to
consider so yes some people still think
I'm a bit strange some people have come
on board and doing similar things now in
the area
sure yeah hopefully hopefully I'm not
too much of a lunatic there are wider
social benefits too and they could
attract payment the river liza runs wild
here taking its own slower natural
course and thus anna dale withstood
storm Desmond in 2015 whilst so much of
Cumbria flooded catastrophic Lee Alex
Thompson Channel 4 News in a Dale well
with me now is Nick von West and halts
from the National Farmers Union he is
their director for international trade
and exiting the EU welcome to the
program first of all we heard lots of
positive noises from Cumbria there but
we're talking about the biggest shake-up
in farming since the 1940s are you
members ready for this well I think they
are actually because we had one full
start on this already that the bill was
actually introduced a year and a half
ago what we've seen today is
as a new bill broadly along the same
lines but actually I think it's
certainly improved our concerns with the
with the original bill and I think where
farmers were certainly concerned was
with an emphasis on environmental
measures and public goods sort of things
we've seen in that package but without
the food production alongside is now
those environment environmental measures
are very important farmers are really
keen to do their bits but there are also
food producers and I think what we want
from this that the system that replaces
the cap is one that encourages a
sustainable food system so it delivers
both affordable food for the nation but
also environmental so it's about a
balance indeed will it be easier for
some farms and others I'm thinking about
large industrial farms versus small
landowners well I think we you look at
different sizes of farms different types
of farms farming different sectors
they've all got challenges and I think
there is a nervousness that some will be
find it far easier to tap into the sorts
of public goods that are being proposed
in this bill and that's why actually
another aspect of the bill which talks
about helping farms that their
productivity is really important as well
what what we don't want to see is
domestic policy underpinning a kind of
high value high cost high standard
farming which is which is good but one
which isn't rewarded by the market and
therefore actually farms are able to
deliver anything at all because they're
not operating so you're touching there
on the idea of cheap imports coming into
the UK and undercutting British farmers
is that a concern that that's absolutely
a concern I think this is just half of
the picture what we're seeing here today
this is the the domestic policy piece
how we you know provide the framework to
encourage our farmers to produce in a
sustainable manner but if at the same
time you haven't got a trade policy the
supports and safeguards that as well
then you won't achieve what you want at
all and we're very very concerned about
the prospect of doing trade deals which
allow substandard food into the UK now I
say chlorine dip chicken is that what
we're talking about
well that
but one example but there are many
others you look at for example the
requirements for poultry farmers on
stocking density or the use of hormone
growth promoters in pig production all
of these sorts of things are examples of
where you have pretty high standards
here in the UK and EU and lower
standards elsewhere in the world and if
you want to maintain the sorts of
production we have here and even enhance
it then you cannot let that be
undermined by trade policy which lets in
substandard Goods consumers might quite
like it cheaper prices well I'm not sure
that's right actually I think consumers
are really proud of the way that food is
produced in this country and I think
they there there is a certain reliance
that these standards are just part and
parcel of food production I think they
would be quite alarmed if they thought
that the direction of travel for the
food they find on their shop shelves
after brexit is one where that food is
produced to to lower standards I don't
think that's what anybody really saw as
being one of the the bonuses from brexit
so positive but holding our breath on
the trade policy well I think it's it's
two parts the trade policy is as is as
important to this if we want the sorts
of things we heard about in that package
from British farming