Wildlife Flocks To Diary Farm Habitats

2,500 hectares of farmland dedicated to wildlife habitat
September 2011. Celebrating a scheme that’s seen land totalling the equivalent of 4,000 football pitches being dedicated to wildlife friendly habitats, the Waitrose WildCare scheme marks its fifth anniversary this month.
“We are talking a large area,” comments Tim Oliver who heads up the scheme. “Dairy farmers who supply milk and cream to Waitrose are on average dedicating 25% of their overall farmland to wildlife habitats – amounting to 2,500 hectares of land. It’s above and beyond what we ever thought could be achieved when the scheme was launched five years ago.”

WildCare
First rolled out in 2006, Waitrose WildCare was designed to be a flexible and pragmatic scheme with the primary objective of improving plant and wildlife habitats across the farms, a focus which, as the scheme reaches its fifth year milestone, is still held today. “Our strategy to target habitat…