‘It makes your heart sing’: can a pioneering project show that rewilding really works? – podcast
The podcast examines a pioneering rewilding project on a Lincolnshire farm, where its aristocratic owner aims to demonstrate that restoring nature can also be financially viable. It matters because intensive farming has severely depleted England’s ancient woodlands and freshwater wetlands, raising questions about how land can support both food production and wildlife.
Written by Patrick Barkham and read by Dermot Daly, the episode focuses on efforts to protect and revive habitats in Lincolnshire. The project is presented as a test of whether rewilding can move beyond conservation ideals and become an economically sustainable model for farming and rural land management.
- A Lincolnshire farm is testing profitable rewilding.
- Intensive farming has damaged vital English habitats.
- The podcast asks whether nature restoration can pay.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supporters argue that rewilding can restore habitats, improve water quality, reduce flood risk and rebuild depleted wildlife while creating new income through tourism, carbon markets and payments for ecosystem services. They contend that conventional intensive farming has often shifted environmental costs on to the public, and that carefully designed projects can demonstrate a financially viable, more resilient use of marginal land.
The case against
Sceptics argue that food production remains a vital public purpose and that withdrawing productive farmland for rewilding could increase reliance on imported food, potentially displacing environmental damage abroad. They also question whether income from tourism and nature markets is dependable or available to ordinary farmers, and maintain that targeted conservation alongside efficient farming may protect nature without risking rural livelihoods or national food security.