Farming

Farmland is the major land use in North Devon and continues to shape the landscape, support communities and support the economy today, just as it has for over two thousand years.

Farming's future and how it responds to the linked economic, cultural and environmental challenges of the 21st century is fundamental to the sustainable future (or otherwise) of northern Devon and indeed, the entire world.

Projects:

To help build this sustainable future, farming in the Biosphere Reserve needs to support the 3 core aims of Conservation, Sustainability and Learning.

• Pearl Rivers Project
• Catchment Sensitive Farming
• Biosphere Sustainable Farming Award

In practice, this means farmers need to be strong businesses producing good quality produce, but (and this is what makes the difference) be farming in a manner that recognises the environmental impacts (positive and negative) of farm practices on a specific of the holding but also beyond farm boundaries, in the wider environment. Specifically, the Biosphere Reserve needs farming that:

(i) Supports the continued health of wildlife
(ii) Supports the environment's capacity to deliver ecosystem services such as reduced carbon emissions or flood prevention
(iii) Preserves and enhances our special landscapes
(iv) Has good relations with the community

The Biosphere Reserve partnership will support farms that farm in this way. We will do this by:

• Providing advice and signposting to advice
• Obtaining and distributing resources to address particular issues, e.g. the current catchment sensitive farming project
• Recognising and promoting best practice in order to build other's understanding, support and capacity to take similar steps themselves.