 This month, farmers and conservationists celebrate the 10th anniversary of an unlikely partnership. It was a historic moment on a June evening ten years ago, when a group of Dorset farmers and conservation experts came together for the first time. The Dorset Agricultural Panel has been thrashing out the environmental issues which affect farmers since then and Dorset's wildlife has been the winner.
Dorset Wildlife Trust's Liaison Officer, Debbie Watkins, said: "It's been a bit like a marriage really. We have our arguments and there are subjects where we agree to disagree, but we keep talking and we can help each other. "The panel has enabled Dorset Wildlife Trust to respond to the many government schemes and consultations, knowing how they will affect both farmers and wildlife on the ground and so how successful they will be."
The group includes farmers from right across the agricultural spectrum, including organic, mixed, arable and dairy. The current chairman is Wakely Cox, who has a mixed arable, beef and sheep farm near Puddletown.
Mr Cox said: "Without good will and support on both sides of the fence and the mix of people on the Panel, we could be pulling in different directions. Here we can support each other and bounce ideas and feelings and practicalities off each other, for the benefit of everyone and everything; for those who work and live in and are part of the Dorset countryside and for those who ideals and views are firmly based in the same place but coming from a different angle."
Debbie Watkins added: "There is no point in conservationists dreaming up schemes for wildlife that will never work for farmers. Why not hear it from those who are actively ploughing their way through the red tape, European legislation and the great British weather to bring us the food on our plates. Farming is the future of our landscape and we have to work together to have any hope of making it the living landscape for all our futures."
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