A legacy of government policy on food production over the last century has been to fund intensification of farming practices, which has led to significant reduction in biodiversity across the UK. Even in the uplands of Atholl Estates, nature has been pushed to the margins.
Momentum is gathering across society and the political spectrum for there to be a re-balancing between biodiversity and food production. This also comes at a time of heighted concern over the production of greenhouse gases from intensive livestock production.
We intend to audit the health status of biodiversity across the estate and from that work, set targets to actively work towards improving habitat. A significant means of delivering this will be by transitioning our in-hand farms towards regenerative agriculture.