Alistair Robb won the Operation Lapwing award for Scotland in 2005, after having raised the Lapwing population on his farm from 0 to 63 pairs

Farming, Land Use and Nature

How can farmers balance the needs of food production and the environment?

We're working on a wide range of issues, from pesticides and GM crops to land-use change and bioenergy, to provide ideas to help answer this question.

Landscape-scale conservation

Wetland grasses
A landscape-scale approach is needed to reverse the degradation and fragmentation of priority habitats.
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Saving valuable habitats

Loch a Chnuic, Abernethy RSPB reserve, Speyside, Scotland, August 2007

Uplands

The UK's uplands landscape we see today is the product of past and current land management activities.
RSPB Forsinard Flows; view from visitor trail, including snow-capped Ben Griam, Highland, Scotland

Peatlands

Peatlands are some of the UK's most valuable habitats – damp, colourful wetlands that support an array of wildlife.

Fertilisers

Harrowing, Northumberland
Fertilisers are applied to supply nutrients essential for plant growth, which have been removed through production & harvesting of crops or grass.
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Pesticides and wildlife

Agriculture; staff at work: Applying 16-10-10 compound fertiliser (arable rotation - spring-sown oats & grassland). Oronsay RSPB reserve, Argyll. Scotland
Pesticides are toxic chemicals, designed to kill pests. But when they come into contact with vulnerable non-pest species, they can kill them, too.
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Food and farming

RSPB Lake Vyrnwy Nature Reserve

Balancing food and the environment

Agriculture in the UK will need to rise to the many challenges it faces, to move toward a sustainable future vision.
Harvest mouse Micromys minutus, adult on wheat showing farmland habitat, Hertfordshire

Food and the choices we make

Food is a vital part of all our lives. Not only do we need it for physical sustenance, it also plays a vital social role
Small scale trials of potential solutions to farmland bird decline before use in larger scale research trials or agri-environment scheme options, RSPB Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire

Food security

What is food security? Globally, enough food is produced to feed everyone, yet around 1 in 8 people are undernourished.
Insect on dewy ears of barley, Yorkshire

GMO and other biotechnology

Explore the RSPB's views on GM foods, biotechnology and the policies that govern them.