PONT Coordinator and North Wales Regional Development Officer Hilary Kehoe has recently been appointed the Chair of the Welsh steering group for the Nature Friendly Farming Network.

The Nature Friendly Farming Network is a group of farmers who have come together to champion a way of farming which is sustainable and good for nature. Coming from a range of backgrounds, big and small, organic and conventional, the members are passionate about ensuring our countryside is productive and bursting with wildlife. The network is open to farmers and the public alike and there is no cost to join. The NFFN will raise awareness of nature friendly farming, share insights and experience and work together for better policies for food and farming.

As well as facilitating grazing across North Wales and working with organisations and individuals in establishing local grazing schemes with PONT, Hilary also farms at home with her family. The family farm includes a coastal Local Nature Reserve managed for lapwing and other waders, an Anglesey Fen SSSI and part of a coastal Special Area of Conservation near Pwllheli as well as grazing land on the Carneddau mountain range. Hilary is passionate about nature and wildlife and has found that it can fit into our farming system. She is keen to reduce inputs and manage the land and livestock as naturally as possible.

I’m looking forward to joining with Martin [UK Chair] and the Scottish and English chairs to put Nature Friendly farming on the political agenda, increase membership of the NFFN and raise awareness of the good work that many farmers are doing for wildlife.

You can join to help highlight that farming and nature can go hand in hand. Find out more about NFFN at the website.