Wildlife habitats exceed national average by 20 per cent under Waitrose scheme

Greenwise Staff

19th August 2010

UK dairy farmers operating under a Waitrose scheme set up to increase the amount of wildlife space on British farmland are exceeding the national average by 20 per cent or more.

The Waitrose WildCare initiative operates on 60 farms supplying Waitrose milk and the retailer today reported that together those farms are now managing wildlife that is equivalent to an area 18 times that of Hyde Park.

"Our latest figures show farms in our scheme average 25 per cent [of land devoted to natural habitats], with some farms as high as 30 per cent," said Waitrose WildCare manager Tim Oliver. The national farm average for land devoted to natural habitats is estimated at five to 10 per cent and the WildCare scheme demands a minimum of 10 per cent.

Wildcare was launched four years ago to make farming 'greener’ by getting the balance right between food production and protecting biodiversity on British farms. Farmers and foresters manage over 80 per cent of the British countryside and are key players in managing British wildlife.

Wild orchids make a return

One wild flower species, wild orchids, have been declining since the 1940s as intensive farming in the UK has increased.

"They are 'delicate’ species with a complex lifecycle making them poorly equipped to cope within some working farm environments," said Oliver. Under the Wildcare scheme, he said wild orchids had, however, now been identified on farms "across Dorset, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somerset".

"Meanwhile, the farms are efficiently producing over 100 million litres of milk per year," said Oliver.

Waitrose said the price premium it pays its producers helps to facilitate the improved nature conservation on the farms taking part in the scheme.

"With more land managed for the benefit of wild flora and fauna, the scheme’s latest figures prove that nature conservation and serious commercial dairy farming can go hand in hand," said Oliver.

Waitrose runs WildCare in association with the Waitrose Dairy Farm Milk Pool, Dairy Crest and AB Sustain. Conservation groups the Hardy Orchid Society, RSPB, the Barn Owl Trust and Tne Wildlife Trusts are also lending their support to the scheme.

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