What would you do if you inherited 3,500 acres (~1,400 hectares) of land? You could develop it into profitable agricultural land, a fancy resort, or a lavish home, right? But what if you turned it into a biodiversity haven — and made money in the process? That’s what Charlie Burell and his wife Isabella Tree in the UK did.
Burrell and Tree inherited the Knepp Castle Estate in 1987 from their grandparents. Like most people, they thought the best way to use it was to develop an agriculture and dairy business. After all, it was 1,400 hectares of land located in a good area of West Sussex, England. But destiny had other plans.
Their business wasn’t generating any profits. Plus, they began to realize that modern agricultural practices, which included the use of industrial pesticides and chemicals, was sucking the life out of their farmland. Things weren’t looking good.
Despite owning such a large piece of land and dairy animals, the couple could barely see any signs of biodiversity on their property, and this began to bother them more and more.
That’s when they started having other plans for their land.
A new way of thinking
In 1999, Ted Green, a conservation scientist who is also considered “Britain’s foremost ancient tree expert” visited the Knepp estate. He made Charlie and Isabella aware of the loss their and other farms were undergoing because of the intensive farming practices.
Green revealed that properties like theirs have already lost many ancient tree species and are now losing the species that inhabit the underground roots and keep the soil fertile.
“The land we’re on is very heavy clay, so the soil is difficult to farm commercially” Burrell said, adding that with the combination of agricultural biocides used in modern farming, “your soil is dead, it’s just dirt.”
“Ted’s visit was an epiphany,” recounts Tree. “It was the beginning of a new way of thinking.”
From a loss-making farm to a profitable wildland
By 2,000, the couple shut down the dairy and sold their farm equipment and animals, putting an end to their agriculture journey.
They were now spending their time studying rewilding, a conservation strategy that involves reintroducing native species to an area and restoring natural balance. This increases biodiversity and creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that requires minimal or no human interference.
During their study, they visited some wildland farms in Holland. Around the same time, they came across Grazing Ecology and Forest History, a book by Frans Vera, an ecologist and a former policymaker who served the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture.
This book became the inspiration for the Knepp Wildlife Project. Based on their study and the ideas suggested by Vera, they made a plan to set up a biodiverse wilderness area on their land. They also wrote a letter to the UK government in 2002 revealing their intent.
22 years later, the Knepp estate is home to hundreds of plant and animal species, some of which are rare to spot anywhere else in the UK. The wildland has also allowed Burrell and Tree to set up a retail business that generates thousands of dollars in profits every year by selling sustainable and high-quality meat.
Moreover, seeing the success of the Knepp wildland, many farmers in the UK also shifted from modern farming practices to rewilding.
How the Knepp wildland works
After selling their farm equipment and dairy animals, they introduced old fallow deer, longhorn cattle, ponies, and Tamworth pigs, all of which were native to the land. They let the animals freely roam, while the agricultural land began to turn into a forest.
They soon noticed that leaving the animals and land alone attracted many other bird and insect species to their farm. This further increased plant diversity on their estate, and within years the overall productivity and species richness of their wildland increased.
“We’ve found as many as twenty-three different species of dung beetle in a single cow pat; and one large dung beetle, the violet dor, which hasn’t been seen in Sussex for fifty years, is now plentiful at Knepp. Since 2000 when we gave up conventional farming and embarked on rewilding, we have more than doubled our total soil carbon, soil organic matter, and microbial biomass, and more than tripled our soil mycorrhizae,” the Knepp website mentions.
However, since there are no natural predators on the Knepp estate, it was important to keep the grazing animal population under control.
“It’s all a question of numbers. Too few grazing animals means that the land will quickly revert to closed-canopy woodland, which is species poor and if there are too many, you will have heavily grazed pasture — again very species poor,” Tree said.
So to maintain the natural balance on the farm, they cull a small number of cattle every year, and sell the meat.
“Because we use no inputs — no fertilizers or other chemicals, no high-energy feeding systems, buildings or farm machinery — the method of meat production at Knepp is entirely sustainable,” the Knepp website notes.
Endangered species thrive at Knepp
Compared to the 1960s, the populations of many bird species, including turtle doves, spotted flycatchers, fieldfares, and nightingales, have reduced by over 90 percent in the UK. Knepp estate is one of the few places in the country, where such birds are still safe and thriving.
In fact, “We are probably the only place in Britain where numbers of turtle doves are actually increasing,” Tree claims.
In the last decade, Knepp has emerged as a haven for rare emperor butterflies, beavers, and many other animals. Moreover, the quality of underground mycorrhizae and soil microorganisms has also improved significantly.
“Knepp Estate is one of the most exciting wildlife conservation projects in the UK, and indeed in Europe. If we can bring back nature at this scale and pace just 16 miles from Gatwick airport we can do it anywhere. I’ve seen it. It’s truly wonderful, and it fills me with hope,” Sir John Lawton, an ecologist and president of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said.
All these positive changes at Knepp reveal the extraordinary power of rewilding in restoring natural balance.
“We hope that rewilding could become the webbing that runs throughout our landscapes — the threads that support life. By us showing how easily it is done, we hope that others will do their bit,” Tree concludes.
The family’s story shows a different way to use land — a way that can be both sustainable and profitable. Their decision to convert struggling agricultural land into a thriving biodiversity haven underscores a profound shift in values, but one that is compatible with modern pressures. The Knepp Estate, once a standard example of traditional agriculture, now stands as a beacon of hope and a model for sustainable living. It proves that, with thoughtful stewardship, the land can not only support us but also flourish.
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