Farming Today This Week

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Farming Today: 30/09/23 - Farming Today This Week: The State of Nature, rural youth groups and nature writing

30/09/23 - Farming Today This Week: The State of Nature, rural youth groups and nature writing

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 30/09/23 - Farming Today This Week: The State of Nature, rural youth groups and nature writing

Charlotte Smith brings you the week's rural news

Which approach is better for nature? Sharing productive farmland with biodiversity, or farming more intensively so some land can be spared entirely for nature...

Farming needs to change to help reverse the ongoing decline in the UK's nature - that's the message in the new State of Nature report published this week by more than 50 research and conservation organisations, from the RSPB to the wildlife trusts and statutory bodies like Natural England. The report warns that 1 in 6 species of British wildlife are under threat of extinction and highlights nature friendly farming as part of the solution. But which approach works better for nature - sharing productive farmland with biodiversity, or farming more intensively so some land can be spared entirely for nature?

Young people in rural areas are missing out on "critical" services due to a "postcode lottery", charities have warned. BBC analysis shows that of the seventy million pounds in grants for youth clubs awarded in August, most of it went to venues around big cities. Experts describe children in villages and small towns as ‘the forgotten youths’.

And sales of books about nature have been steadily rising over the past few years - we're said to be living in a golden age for nature writing. We hear from writers about what motivates them, and what impact they feel they can have.

Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

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30/09/23 - Farming Today This Week: The State of Nature, rural youth groups and nature writing

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