Guidance on bringing Britain’s hedges back into the farm business.
This guide was produced by the Organic Research Centre as a part of the SustainFARM project. It presents the various different hedgerow types along with management techniques and potential environmental and business benefits.
Download the guide below.
Agroecology is a holistic and integrated approach that simultaneously applies ecological and social concepts and principles to the design and management of sustainable agriculture and food systems. Definition from FAO.
The Organic Research Centre (ORC) is the UK's leading independent organic research organisation. Changing the future of food and farming.
Biodiversity encompasses all the variety of life on Earth from genes to species, populations, communities and ecosystems. In ecological and environmental sectors, we mostly refer to the biodiversity of plant and animal communities within particular habitats.
Help us collate the knowledge sources, organisations and initiatives out there that are seeking to improve the farmed environment
Ancient woodland now covers just 2.5% of the UK’s land area and we have lost 50% of our hedgerows since 1945, and they are still in decline. As a result, animals that once flourished in these habitats are also significantly diminished. Up to 75% of all of Britain’s rural hedgehogs have been lost in the past 20 years. Dormouse numbers have declined by 76%-80% between 1994 and 2018. There has been a 41% decline in the woodland butterfly index for the UK between 1990 and 2019. This project will aim to collect definitive evidence for the role of hedgerows in nurturing woodland biodiversity by studying the distribution of invertebrates in woodland patches. The findings of the study will be disseminated to the scientific community and through our networks to reach as wide an audience as possible. As a result we hope that landowners will be motivated to introduce and/or maintain healthy hedgerows on their land, thus improving local biodiversity.
