From enclosure and the beginnings of intensive farming in the 18th and 19th centuries, to mechanised, chemical agriculture in the 20th century, the last 250 years have seen great changes in the British farming landscape. ‘Wastes’ have been brought into production, traditional habitats and practices have been lost, and arable and pastoral farming have become specialised and separated.
The RSPB purchased Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire in 1999. The intention was to prove that it is possible to run a profitable, sustainable and biodiverse farm that produces food. Duerden Cormack summarises twenty-five years of monitoring and research on its success.