4 out of 5 stars

The publisher provided a copy of this free of charge in return for an honest review.
Farming in this country over the past century has been incredibly harmful to the natural world and the wider environment. Vast quantities of lethal chemicals are sprayed on the land and this has resulted in massive drops in invertebrates and subsequently birds and other animals.
Getting various stakeholders to work together in making these landscapes more nature friendly and to still work for the farmer and their livelihood is fraught with difficulty. The fundamental problem with all of these schemes is that neither side has a full understanding of the implications of any changes that are made.

To try and understand the juxtaposition between farming and nature and the best way of making it work for both, David Elias spent a long time on a farm in the Snowdonia National Park. This farm has been in a family for a long time and he visits many times between 2015 and 2021. Each visit helps him understand the long relationship that they have had with this landscape and how intimately involved the people are.
But getting people to change their outlook takes a lot of time. The farming community is often doing these things because they have a financial incentive via subsidies, what Elias wants to see is the wider community understanding that they are a small but integral part of the solution and want to do these things for themselves.

One of the ways that Wales is doing this is through a unique piece of legislation that they have called the Well-being Of Future Generations Act. This places the obligation onto public bodies to ensure that what they do is sustainable and restores and improves biodiversity. This coupled with their Environmental Act means that the system is geared to improving rather than draining resources for commercial gain. We could do with something like this here, but I can’t see it happening anytime soon..

When it comes down to it, the world is essentially local, and all the better for being understood that way

I thought this was a very interesting book in lots of ways. However, I did feel that there weren’t many practical solutions offered, but I get that he is treading a very sensitive line and offering any suggestions that may be taken the wrong way by people who rely on this way of life for a living. Imposing a new way of life on any people is not the right way of going about things. What Elias has done in this book is show that listening to those that inhabit the land and making small but subtle changes can have a big effect on nature. But, and this is most important, both sides need to work together for the greater good.

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