Nectar networks
Keith Datchler OBE, retired farmer
Having spent my entire working life in farming, several decades of it meadow-orientated, I did not think roadside verges would become a part of my life, but they have. I am a meadow nut – my wife says if I were cut in half, I would have the word ‘meadows’ written through me like letters in a stick of rock. Increasingly, the push to save existing meadows, and create more species-rich, biodiverse grassland, has gathered pace. Thank heavens – they are basic in the story of human life, in ways people are only beginning to understand. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, rice and maize, are all staples to our existence, and all types of grass. We need to feed ourselves, and farms and farmers always rise to that challenge. Not all farms can turn over large areas of land to conservation alone, although a sympathetic approach is rising in popularity. Thankfully, schemes – which come and go – offer support to farmers if they embrace
