Save the Orchards

Save the Orchards April 3, 2004

Posted by Andy Roberts in : wildlife , trackback

Urgent threat to ancient orchards

My ukcider website has transformed overnight into a campaign centre since being alerted by a newspaper article in The Guardian to an urgent threat to ancient apple orchards in England. The UK government’s proposed replacemnet for the Common Agricultural Policy leaves orchards and hop farms out of the flat rate farm subsidy, which means that farmers have a financial incentive to destroy orchards and plough them up before the end of this year.

Under the new proposals, farmers will be financially encouraged to destroy ancient cider orchards in order to make the land qualify for the new flat rate farm subsidies.
The implications are horrifying for biodiversity, tradition, real cider, wildlife, mycology and anybody who cares about countryside. Of the thousands of apple varieties which have been produced in England many exist in only one or two orchards and will become extinct.