Farms are under threat from a new drive by the National Trust to rewild parts of its land.
The charity plans to turn 250,000 hectares into wildlife-friendly landscape as part of its 10-year strategy focused on nature recovery.
The target is equivalent to almost all of the land owned by the charity, which is the UK’s largest farm owner, with more than 1,300 tenant farmers across an estate one-and-a-half times the size of Greater London.
It has said it will achieve the goal by using parts of its own estate, as well as buying up new land and working in partnership with other landowners.
The charity has said it will work with farmers on its land. However, there are fears the drive may force tenanted farmers to give up their business if they are unable to meet the Trust’s requirements.
Last year the charity announced it would end the 10-year tenancy held by farmers Tom Hasson and his partner Becki Prouse on its land at Stowe Barton, in north Cornwall.
The charity said at the time that the land had “the potential to deliver much more for nature, climate and wider public benefit”, and would form part of a “corridor for nature”.
A spokesman told The Telegraph that it was “not ending farming at Stowe Barton, the land will always need management and will always be farmed with conservation at the forefront of decision making”.
But it said that it had been unable to find a “joint way forward” for Mr Hasson to continue keeping his cattle on the land.
George Dunn, the chief executive of the Tenant Farmers Association, said the Trust had in recent years been “removing land from the farmed estate unnecessarily for rewilding and other purposes”.
Another farmer, who asked to remain anonymous, said he left land he had farmed for 30 years after the Trust asked him to reduce his livestock numbers by 85 per cent partly so they could rewild the land.
“They desecrate good working farms, and food is going to go down,” he said. “I would say on wildlife there is less now than there was before. And while it used to produce enough food to feed a large village, it’s now producing the square root of not a lot.”
The National Trust said its new 10-year strategy, launched to mark its 130th birthday, would address “the new national need: the climate and nature crises”.
“For 130 years, the National Trust has responded to the crises and challenges of the time,” Hilary McGrady, its director-general, said. “Today, nature is declining before our eyes and climate change is threatening homes and habitats on a colossal scale. Meanwhile, millions of people can’t enjoy the benefits that green space and heritage bring.
“So we will ramp up our work to restore nature, both on our own land and beyond our boundaries. We’ll work to end inequality of access to green space and cultural heritage. And we will inspire millions more people to take action to protect the things we all need to thrive.”
Large landowners are being encouraged to undertake tree planting and rewilding across extensive landscapes under the Government’s post-Brexit replacements for farming subsidies.
A spokesman for the National Trust said its approach to nature restoration would involve “connecting habitats and enabling natural processes to operate, and collaborating more, with people, on and off our land, to make the impact that’s required to halt nature’s decline in this country”.
Mr Dunn said he hoped that the charity’s stated commitment to working with farmers would mean more tenancies could continue on the charity’s estate.
“It is good to see that farming and food have been placed at the centre of the strategy, whereas, in the past, talk of food and farming was almost considered inappropriate in many National Trust circles,” he said.
A National Trust spokesman said: “Nature-friendly farming practices have been vital to so much of our work and we’ll continue to support the network of farmers we work with across the land to be even bigger players in nature recovery and climate resilience, while producing good, healthy food and running sustainable businesses.
“These aren’t diametrically opposed visions for our countryside and landscapes. They are two sides of the same coin.”
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
