Rewilding and farming: could the relationship be improved through adopting a three compartment approach to land use?

What would a positive relationship between rewilding and farming look like in England? Do terms matter? When is extensive farming better categorised as rewilding and when is rewilding really farming with nature? Can farming and rewilding co-exist and complement each other to meet national ambitions to produce sufficient high-quality food, and address the interconnected biodiversity, climate, and health crises? This chapter explores these questions digging beneath the binary polarisation that has in recent years characterised much conversation, social media, and writing in this space. Barriers to land use change are explored and ideas to address them provided. The chapter focuses on England, which is currently facing a number of policy and funding challenges and opportunities, but it is recognised that many of these issues will have resonance in other countries and contexts. The analytical framework adopted is the three-compartment approach to land use as recommended by the National Food Strategy (Dimbleby, 2021). Could this framework better enable the co-existence of farming and rewilding when partnered with appropriate government levers and delivery mechanisms including the Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes?