Food and farming

Farmers help to maintain essential biodiversity in the countryside. Photo: © istock.

The local food choice
Most of England’s countryside is farmed in 2026. We eat more local food and we eat better. Interest in local foods goes beyond the individual consumer – schools, hospitals and care homes also favour local foods and local suppliers. High quality agricultural land is protected from development. A national soil strategy has helped boost food production with less need for artificial fertilisers.

Farmers and the countryside
England’s farmers are valued once more for the food they produce, but also for doing a superb job of conserving the familiar, beautiful patchwork of landscapes we love. They are paid to do this and they prosper. Consequently, farming has attracted new blood. Farm animals are treated well. Many more adults and children visit the countryside, and when they do, they see more animals outdoors. The wild flowers, birds, insects and mammals that had so dwindled over the previous 70 years have returned in a rush of sights, sounds and smells.

Related campaigns
> Local food
> Farming
> Hedgerows