North England-based environmental consultant, James Bliss NSch 2023, has published his Nuffield Farming report, ‘Born to be wild? Does the future of marginal farming lie in the untapped potential of Rewilding?’, sponsored by The Worshipful Company of Farmers with Savills.
During his Scholarship, Bliss travelled to Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland, Denmark, Chile, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
In his report, Bliss said, “The question I wanted to address was: ‘Is there one solution to both the biodiversity and farming crisis?’
“Rewilding is a term that can have a multitude of definitions, each with their own emotional response. However, from my perspective it is restoring natural processes at a landscape scale. With this definition in mind, I wanted to visit designated rewilding sites, as well as farms and businesses not ‘rewilding’ but who were practicing non-conventional land management.”
Bliss travelled across the world visiting other countries with declining biodiversity and struggling agricultural sectors. He explored the environmental, social, and economic aspects of rewilding.
He said, “While travelling to some of the most wild areas on Earth, within parts of Chilean Patagonia and during my African leg, it became clear that a large part of my study topic was the importance of society and social interaction. The importance of the social pillar of sustainability is perhaps something that is regularly overshadowed by the more regular focus on the environmental and economic pillars.
“Diversification was the key element for all projects that were achieving the three pillars of sustainability. Although some projects were not openly ‘rewilding’, they were still achieving my definition of working with natural processes. This led to product and income diversification and increased social cohesion both on and off farm. Perhaps most excitingly this diversification was delivering environmental improvements.”
Key findings:
- For a farm business to thrive, diversification of farm income must happen
- Nature-focussed farming can achieve both species recovery and maintain or enhance productivity
- Our social pillar of overall sustainability needs greater focus for long term business security