LEAF’S GREEN BOX – helping farmers to look, measure and talk!

LEAF’s Green Box, launched by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn , will help farmers capture all the exciting daily observations of wildlife, water and soil on the farm. The Green Box is a web based resource which builds on LEAF’s current selection of practical management tools to help farmers capture and record information about the wildlife and the environment on their farm.

The website includes the latest advisory publications and resources, guidance on making observations and a data collection service enabling farmers to monitor and understand changes.

Speaking at the launch, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said:

“LEAF’s Green Box will be really useful in linking the work that individual farmers do to the effect this has on the environment – understanding this relationship is vital for the protection of our ecosystems and the sustainability of food production.

LEAF have done a great job providing farmers with simple and straightforward advice on how to monitor what’s happening on their farm – the plants and animals, the air, the soil, the water; things which we all care about.

The market for British food that has been farmed in a ‘green’ way has continued to grow. Farmers have the opportunity to capture this growing market. One important way they can start to do this is through using the Green Box to ensure that they are producing the food we need in a sustainable way, which will help both our economic and environmental prosperity.”

The Green Box was developed in close consultation with a number of farmers, Rob Kynaston, who farms a 98 hectare dairy farm in Shropshire commented:

“The LEAF Green Box is a fantastic addition to LEAF’s current selection of tools which all help take my business forward. We have been implementing Integrated Farm Management (IFM) for some years now, but the Green Box will show me and my visitors the real difference IFM is having to our environment and wildlife. I can’t wait to begin counting and measuring and then talking about my findings during farm visits and my Open Farm Sunday event.”

Caroline Drummond, LEAF Chief Executive concluded:

“Farms are amazing places. Not only do they produce our food but they make a huge contribution to maintaining the diversity of our landscape, the health of ours soils and water and the rich biodiversity of our countryside. The information farmers collect from using the Green Box, will help us develop a clearer picture of what farms in the UK already have, develop priorities and quantify changes. Above all, we hope it will inspire farmers to talk about the work they do to protect and enhance our precious natural resources, our landscape and its wonderful wildlife.”


Notes


1. The LEAF Green Box has been kindly supported by The Ernest Cook Trust (ECT). The ECT is a charitable trust which was set up in 1952 by the late Ernest Cook, a grandson of the found of the Thomas Cook Travel Agency. The focus of the ECT is education. Within this remit, the ECT has a particular interest in the arts, environment, numeracy and literacy.

2. The LEAF Green Box is available at www.leafuk.org/greenbox  

3. The LEAF Green Box is supported by Butterfly Conservation, Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Environment Agency, Farming Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), National Farmers Union (NFU), Plantlife, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Waitrose and the World Wildlife Fund.

4. Further information about LEAF can be obtained from LEAF, The National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire CV8 2LG Tel: 02476 413911 Fax: 02476 413636
email: enquiries@leafuk.org  www.leafuk.org