Agricultural department.

Now why?

Because they are heralding wall government is proposes, is proposing of something towards a green light to the re wilding movements.

But it's very early days, and that might be over, egging it somewhat.

But there's no doubt the government is pointing towards rethinking what farmers do, what they produce.

Of course, it's food.

But do they not also, with right subsidies and payments and incentives, also safeguard a biosphere?

Which, let's face it across these on is not just in England is in danger of going over a cliff, And that's why we've seen out in the glory that is the pen nines on today in Cumbria, on the fells.

Too many sheep, too few trees.

The Penan landscape, we pretend, is natural and is anything but.

I think the countryside, you know, I think it needs a massive Renee songs, not a revolution.

Yesterday, Roger Tempests plan to re wild more than 300 hectares of these fells and fields with 600,000 trees was radical.

Today, it's government policy in all but name.

We've been here 32 generations trying to look after this bit of land in the back of your shirt.

On Dhe.

It's our duty.

The world's in his environmental crisis.

Social crisis.

It's time to act.

So the government now proposes paying farmers for a lot more than food, natural flood protection, reforestation, public land access on the return of our lost biodiversity.

All of that now possible because of Brexit Brexit enables us to escape from the common Agricultural policy, which was was driving farmers to basically farm the land in an unsustainable way, which which will go with you?

Were the more money you got?

Yes, that's right, Andi.

It wasn't their choice.

It's not their fault.

It's just that that's what the policies drove.

Andi.

It's quite clear that it hasn't worked in terms off the sustainable future for agricultural land.

Because the soils have degraded, we have more and more problems with water rushing, often thes these billiard table landscapes, causing flooding downstream.

So the new arrangement, which is being proposed by government, is that farmers are rewarded for delivering public goods like better flood risk management like water quality, carbon sequestration, better biodiversity, et cetera, but paying landowners and farmers to restore biodiversity ruined by too many sheep.

But too few trees may mean fewer sheep farmers.

It's also a lot of lively hoods.

Isn't a lot of, uh, plan farmers?

How did they come with you on this journey?

There's so much, I mean, of farms I don't want Statistic is, at the moment of 70% of farms, have an income separate from the farm is huge.

Change gun on anyway, But in terms of I, I think there'll be room.

I mean, some of the types of farming's are they are dying out.

They are dying out.

It's gonna be a thing of the past, and these new ways are going to come forward.

But that's always been the case, hasn't it?

Changing landscape changing farming?

The National Farmers Union is concerned all this could lower production and the threat of cheap meat imports from countries with lower welfare on food safety standards.

Israel, They call it Wild Annandale, one of England's most established and successful wilding projects run by United Utilities Forestry Commission, National Trust, amongst others for almost 20 years now in the lake district started, See more territories, different species back green woodpeckers.

A nice example of that.

An increase in deeper in the river with Seymour More Dicko, which is fantastic marsh artillery but to fly extinct in Cumbria in the 19 seventies.

Brought much artillery back again just over 10 years ago.

Looks like something out of Canada, but in fact this is an English tenants.

From now, if the government serious and if the government delivers on what it's talking about, it will make in future.

Safeguarding areas like this on their enormous biodiversity, a part of conventional farming, not just focusing on food production alone.

Once a concrete ford stood here, Now it's been returned to the natural river course.

Aqui fish spawning ground, Arctic char, Far fewer sheep means trees naturally received the fell side Rohan, large birch, oak, holly and more.

Today, the wild roaming Galloway heard was penned for blood testing by the vet.

Otherwise, you'd be lucky to see them grazing.

Semi wild over fell on forest here buries the Boston is the matriarch that will decide when it's time to move up the valley are further away.

Are undercover under under the trees.

So so she you can observe from a distance and see how she will call a news will respond.

It's amazingly into sand.

Stand back and watch how the hell they are totally different to my cows at home in the fields.

His flock of heard weak sheep has radically reduced in number.

Yet till farming, he says, has never been as much fun.

Never been easier on never made money like now, 40 years ago, some people thought were strange, turning away from full, unproductive convent off cattle farming to now would you have galleries and, uh, heard weeks?

I'm traditional type of farming, and we only have to look back to see our things we're doing a lot of years ago.

I'm constantly why they were doing that.

We're because you fit best to the land.

And if it's best to the environment under climate, and those are all things you need to consider, so you have some people still think I'm a bit strange.

Some people have come on board and doing similar things now in the area, so hopefully hopefully I'm not too much of a lunatic.

There are wider social benefits to they could attract payment.

The river Liza runs wild here, taking its own slower natural course and thus ended a ll withstood Storm Desmond in 2000 and 15 while so much of Cumbria flooded catastrophically.

Alex Thompson, Channel four.

News today.

Well, with me now is Nick Phone Weston Holtz from the National Farmers Union.

He is their director for international trade on Extinct.

You welcome to the program Visible.

We heard lots of positive noises from Cumbria there, but we're talking about the biggest shakeup in farming since the 19 forties.

You members ready for this?

Well, I think they are, actually, because we had one full start on this already.

The bill was actually introduced a year and 1/2 ago.

What we've seen today is there is a new bill broadly along the same lines, but actually, I think it's, uh certainly improved our concerns with the with the original bill.

I think where farmers were certainly concerned was with an emphasis on environmental measures and public goods.

These sort of things we've seen in that package, but without the food production alongside it now, those viral environmental measures are very important.

Farmers are really keen to do their bits, but they're also food producers.

And I think what we want from the system that replaces the cap is one that encourages a sustainable food system.

So it delivers both affordable food for the nation but also environmental.

So it's about the balance.

Indeed.

Will it be easier for some farms and others?

I'm thinking about large industrial farms versus small landowners.

Well, I think you look at different size of the farms, different types of farms, farming, different sectors.

They've all got challenges on dhe.

I think there is, Ah, nervousness that some will be find it far easier to tap into the sorts of public goods that are being proposed in this bill.

And that's why actually another aspect of the bill which talks about helping fans of that productivity is really important as well.

What what we don't want to see is a domestic policy underpinning a kind of high value, high cost, high standard farming, which is which is good, but one which isn't rewarded by the markets and therefore actually farms are able to deliver anything at all because they're not operates.

So you're touching there on the idea of cheap imports coming into the UK and undercutting British violence?

Is that a concern?

That that's absolutely a concern?

I think this is just half of the picture, what we're seeing here today.

This is the domestic policy piece, how we provide the framework to encourage our farmers to produce in a sustainable manner.

But if at the same time you haven't got a trade policy, the supports and safeguards that as well, then you won't achieve what you want a tall and we're very, very concerned about the prospect of doing trade deals which allow substandard food into the UK There, I say, Chlorine dip chicken.

Is that what we're talking about?

Well, that is but one example.

But there are many others you look at, for example, the requirements for poultry farmers on stocking density or the use of Holman growth promoters in pig production.

All of these sorts of things are examples of where you have pretty high standards here in the U can you on lower standards elsewhere in the world.

And if you want to maintain the sorts of production we have here and even enhance it, then you cannot let that be undermined by trade policy, which lets in substandard goods.

Consumers might quite like it.

Cheaper prices?

Well, I'm not sure that's right.

Actually, I think consumers are really proud off the way that food is produced in this country on I think they there is a certain reliance that these standards are just part and parcel of food production.

I think that would be quite alarmed if they thought that the direction of travel for the food they find on their shop shelves off the Brexit is one where that food is produced to lower standards.

I don't think that's what anybody really saw as being one of the bonuses from Brexit so positive.

But holding our breath on the trade policy well, I think it's it's two parts.

The trade policy is, as is as important as this.