WORCESTERSHIRE Wildlife Trust has welcomed a government farming deal.
The trust says a recent deal on agri-environment schemes - those which pay farmers to farm in an environmentally-sensitive way - are a step forward for wildlife by more than doubling funds for environmentally-sensitive farming.
The announcement, made by Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs David Miliband, will increase the confidence of farmers and land managers to enter these schemes.
It included shifting funding from subsidies to payments for environmental benefits, combined with match funding from the Treasury - and overall is hoped to increase funds for green farming' from £250 million to £550 million per year.
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust's conservation development manager Andy Graham, said: "This is a big step in the right direction for the UK's threatened species such as the brown hare and lapwing, and could provide a cornerstone for landscape scale conservation schemes in the face of climate change.
"The key test now for Government is to ensure more funds are directed to the Higher Level Scheme, which has been starved of cash, to provide high quality agriculture that benefits the environment and society as a whole."
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