Daily Express Monday, April 6, 2020 27By News ReporterBy John Ingham
Environment EditorTV presenter Helen Skelton
says there is a “massive
disconnect” between farmers
and the public.
The host of Channel 5’s
Springtime On The Farm
urged people to have more
respect for farming and to
talk more about where their
food comes from.
Helen grew up on a farm
and has “a huge amount of
respect for farmers – but now
I live on the edge of the city,
and there’s a massive
disconnect between food
producers and the rest of
the country”.
She said in France, where
she lived, at a market “you
ask the farmer what you
should get, and he tells you
and you buy it because that’s
what’s best at that time”.
But in Britain “if the guy
behind the counter said, ‘You
should eat this’, we’d tell
them to mind their business- I think that’s a shame.”
The ex-Blue Peter star said
she hopes her current show
will encourage more respect
from the public for farming.
Plans to go live from a
farm in Yorkshire have been
ditched because of Covid-19
but producer Richard
Mortimer said most of it had
already been filmed.
He added: “Helen will
present from her Yorkshire
country garden and Adam
[Henson] from his Cotswold
farm using high-quality
phone cameras.”
●Springtime On The Farm
returns on April 13 at 8pm.
Ploughing
on...
Helen will
present
from homeSTAR OFFERS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
clear understanding of the urgency.
We have long recognised that
conserving nature – protecting the
wild places and nature that remain –
is not enough.
“We must all do more to restore
the abundance of nature, restore
ecosystem processes and reverse the
UK’s status as one of the most
nature-depleted countries in the
world. We want to see at least a third
of land and sea given to nature by- In short, we want our
nature back.”
He added: “The catastrophic
declines and the negative effects on
ecological processes are now known
to be directly linked to the climate
emergency: drain a peat bog and you
release thousands of tonnes of
carbon; restore it and wildlife thrives
once again while you re-establish a
massive carbon store and protect
communities from flooding.”
The Wildlife Trusts wants to double
the country’s current area protected
for nature from 15 per cent in
England to 30 per cent through a
Nature Recovery Network of new,
restored and joined-up areas so
that wildlife can expand and
move around.
It favours tackling climate change
by working with nature by, for
instance, restoring peat and
salt marshes which capture
carbon and help serve as
soakaways for flooding.
It is campaigning for a
natural health service “so
that the NHS can prescribe
time in wild places and
activities that improve
health and reconnect people
with nature and each
other”.
OPINION:
PAGE 12THE new boss of one of Britain’s
biggest green groups yesterday
vowed to campaign to return one
third of the UK’s land to nature.
Craig Bennett, who takes over as
chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts
today, wants to double the area of
land and sea in England protected
for nature.
In his first statement, as head of
the 46 Wildlife Trusts, he warned:
“Nature is in freefall. We want our
nature back.”
The Trusts also want a “natural
health service” with doctors pre-
scribing time in wild places to boost
public wellbeing.
Craig, 48, comes to the Wildlife
Trusts from Friends of the Earth,
where as chief executive, he helped
win a moratorium on fracking, block
Heathrow’s third runway and get
bee-harming pesticides banned.
He is expected to give the Trusts a
more radical, campaigning edge.
He takes over a movement that
has more than 850,000 members
and 38,000 volunteers, just as char-
ity incomes are being hit by the
coronavirus lockdown and with the
world facing the continuing
challenges of climate change and
species extinctions.
He said: “These are desperate
times. We’re facing global health,
climate and ecological emergencies,
and people are turning
to and need nature
more than ever.
“But when the
pandemic has
passed, there is a
battle to resume – to
restore nature and to
empower people to
take action for the
natural world.
“At The Wildlife
Trusts, we have a pivotal
role to play and have a
A third of
Britain
could be
returned
to nature3XWPRUHODQGEDFNWRQDWXUH
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Craig Bennett
has a mission