Why you should never ever mention rewilding to a Welsh hill farmer

MY LATE uncle was a sheep farmer in north Wales and I have happy memories of visiting his farm in Snowdonia as a child. I wasn’t much interested in farming back then, but these days I find it fascinating. Producing enough food to feed a growing global population is one of the most destructive activities we impose on the natural world, a massive driver of climate change and a major threat to biodiversity.

“Biodiversity is, on average, faring very badly indeed,” says Andrew Bamford at the University of Cambridge. “And while other drivers of biodiversity’s decline often attract more attention, the greatest source of threat to …