News and Issues

This Forum has been put together to help raise the issues facing livestock farming and conservation, and to promote the opportunities and initiatives available. The Forum provided guidance and support to both farmers and land managers whilst also supporting strategic issues and problems.

This Forum has been put together to help demonstrate the issues facing livestock farming and conservation, and to promote the opportunities and initiatives available. It covers some of the main initiatives underway in the region from key partners and organisations. Many of our best lowland wildlife habitats, flower rich semi-natural grasslands, wetlands and heathlands, were once integral to mixed farming systems. These habitats were used for grazing by hardy breeds of sheep and cattle, often at relatively low intensities. With the changes in agricultural systems over the past 50 years, some of these habitats have stopped having a useful economic function. As a result, many were destroyed and the management of many of those that remain has been neglected, resulting in rapid deterioration in their condition. In the East of England, the shift from mixed farming to all-arable systems has left the surviving remnants of these formerly widespread habitats isolated and difficult to graze. Once grazing has been lost, scrub and invasive weedy plants quickly take over, with consequent losses of the wildflowers, butterflies, reptiles and other characteristic species. Undergrazing affects around 2,600 hectares of our most important wildlife sites (Sites of Special Scientific Interest) in the East of England Region. It is therefore vitally important for nature conservation that the livestock industry in the region is supported and encouraged. To achieve this grazing we need to have a viable livestock farming sector that will provide the management. It is becoming increasingly difficult to make money out of livestock farming. This is resulting in a dramatic drop in beef and sheep farms. This decline has a significant impact on abattoirs, cutting plants, local food outlets, butchers and local tourism.

Useful Links

   - East of England Grazing Forum
   - Undergrazing Project Partnership

Useful Documents