Sandy soils in Norfolk, in the south east of England, are not ideal for growing wheat. So, in 2021, four local farmers took up an offer of government funding to adapt the land for conservation. “It would become unsustainable for cereal production in the long term, so we were thinking ahead to take advantage of new nature markets,” says Glenn Anderson, one of the group, which has since launched Wendling Beck, a 2,000-acre habitat creation project. Though farmers in the UK are increasingly expected to nurture biodiversity as well as to produce food, it is not always cost-effective to do so.  But, now, that may be about to change. A government-backed plan to establish a new blended finance instrument later this year could make it more economically viable to develop nature-based solutions (NbS) such as peatland restoration and habitat creation.

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