The character of many of the UK's most cherished landscapes – from the Cornish coast to the islands of Scotland – hang in the balance, it has been warned, unless the package of support farmers receive for managing these areas sympathetically is improved.
A coalition of 18 farming, wildlife, environmental and heritage groups have written to Environment Secretary Owen Paterson warning of the impending crisis facing wildlife and communities in so-called high nature value farming areas.
Their call comes just two weeks after conservationists published the country's first-ever "State of Nature" report which warned that the Westcountry environment was "in trouble".
John Waldon, from the South West Uplands Federation, said: "The farmed landscapes of the South West uplands are some of the most iconic landscapes in the country, providing an impressive array of public benefits.
"However public access and the management of the historic and natural environment are threatened as the farmers who provide the necessary management face ever increasing costs and lower public support.
"Farmers want to continue to manage the moors but the link between providing public goods and receiving public support needs to be re-established." High nature value farming is mainly associated with beef and sheep grazing in upland and marginal areas, many of which are designated as nationally important landscapes.
Harsh weather, poor land quality and distance from markets makes farming the areas, which are vital to the survival of many species, difficult.
The coalition said farmers in such areas had been left with a "stark choice" between intensifying or abandoning areas with potentially "disastrous consequences for wildlife, valued landscapes and rural communities".
Its letter to Mr Paterson said: "Despite providing a host of benefits for society, these special farming systems are economically vulnerable because the market fails to pay for those benefits, and without a better package of public support, the future of high nature value farming in the UK hangs in the balance."
Lisa Schneidau, Devon Wildlife Trust's project manager for the Northern Devon Nature Improvement Area, said: "In large areas of rural Devon, our wildlife and natural heritage assets are completely reliant on sympathetic farming. Most farmers working marginal and challenging land here cannot afford to look after wildlife without help from agri-environment grants. Agri-environment schemes are crucial to the continuation of high nature value farming and the benefits they bring to rural communities."
