Analysis: What future for sheep farming in the uplands?

Sheep farmers can be forgiven for feeling they are being demonised.

Week in, week out, there seems to be some new report or TV programme suggesting that sheep are a danger, if not to society, then to biodiversity, water purity and the climate.

Well-known environmentalist Ben Goldsmith has been a regular knocker of the sheep sector, accusing it of turning the uplands into a barren wasteland.

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At last year’s Oxford Farming Conference, for example, he led a whole debate around the impact of sheep, claiming they had feet “like stilettos at a festival”, causing extensive environmental damage “for little commercial or productive gain”.

More recently, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), which advises the government on policy, has called for a 27% reduction in sheep numbers by 2040, along with a 30% reduction in red meat consumption, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from UK agriculture.

The recommendations, contained in its seventh carbon budget, are likely to be followed closely by the government as it strives to reach its statutory targets for net zero by 2050.

In another move, Defra last week pulled together a new group, the National Estate for Nature, made up of public, private and “civil society” landowners.

It has tasked them with the job of helping the government find new ways of meeting its environmental goals.

While not mentioning sheep specifically, Defra secretary Steve Reed asked the group – which accounts for 10% of all land ownership in England – to draft new land management plans “to go further and faster to restore our natural world”.

As well as Defra and the Environment Agency, its 22 members include the National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB – groups not renowned for their love of upland sheep production.

Less is more

Both the Wildlife Trusts and the RSPB insist that they are not “anti-sheep” as such, though they do subscribe to the view that “less is more”.

The Wildlife Trusts, for example, says it is fully supportive of the CCC’s aspiration to drive down sheep numbers – especially in upland areas – though it still wants to support farmers “to work with nature”.

Its senior land use policy manager, Barnaby Coupe, says: “In the right place, sheep can deliver great benefits for nature – for example, they are a valuable conservation tool for limestone grassland restoration.

“However, across the farms we have looked at, sheep numbers are usually unsustainably high, which is leading to detrimental environmental outcomes and undermining the viability of farm businesses.

“When these farms move towards systems which are less reliant on inputs, have lower stocking densities, and have a mix of cattle and sheep, they become more profitable, and better for nature.”

It is a similar message from the RSPB.

Its head of sustainable land use policy, Alice Groom, says achieving the right grazing balance between sheep, cattle and ponies on the society’s farmland is “crucial” for managing habitat.

“The future of upland farming cannot follow a one-size-fits-all model,” she says. “Instead, it must work with the land to find the right approach.

“Evidence shows that achieving the government’s biodiversity and climate targets, while safeguarding food security, requires a transition to more nature-friendly farming.”

In defence of sheep

The National Sheep Association (NSA), however, is quick to defend the role of sheep, both from a habitat point of view and a climate change perspective.

On climate change, NSA chief executive Phil Stocker points out that methane – the main greenhouse gas emitted by sheep – is very different to carbon dioxide, with which it is often compared, noting that it has a relatively short, rotational life in the atmosphere.

“Should sheep numbers stay the same or fall, then methane levels from sheep stay the same or fall,” he says.

Mr Stocker also warns of the dangers of focusing on just one metric – greenhouse gas emissions – to assess the contribution that sheep offer to society.

“Sheep farmers are managing one of our most precious resources – grassland – which not only builds and stores carbon, but also enables the production of tasty, nutritious food,” he says.

With increasingly volatile weather making crop production more precarious, grassland will continue to be one of the most resilient and stable resources available.

Growing grass for livestock is the only food production option available on two-thirds of the nation’s farmland.

There are numerous habitat benefits from sheep production, too, says Mr Stocker.

Grassland and open moorland are host to a wide range of flora and fauna – often more than might be found in forests and woodland – and the dung produced by sheep can benefit insect life and soil fertility.

“Without grazing livestock – including sheep in the uplands – we would lose many of the habitats and food sources that are essential for farmland-based nature,” says Mr Stocker.

The Peak District Moorland Group also warns of the increased fire risk associated with any reduction in sheep numbers in upland areas.

Without natural grazing, the landscape would quickly become overgrown, increasing the fuel load, making wildfires more intense and harder to control.