wild meadows

Is this story about farmers shooting themselves in the foot in terms of public opinion??!

A bid to safeguard endangered wildflower meadows has backfired, according to an unpublished report by the watchdog Natural England.

Some 98% of English meadows have been lost to intensive farming, but the rate of loss nearly doubled after the EU said it wanted to protect grasslands. The report says many farmers responded by digging up their meadows before tighter rules could be introduced – it refers to figures from 2012 when 234 farmers requested permission to plough up long-term pasture compared with the average of 128 requests in the previous decade.. The government said it never had faith in the EU scheme.  It maintained that grasslands in the UK were adequately protected anyway. But the news has angered wildlife groups who are meeting on Wednesday to discuss progress since their State of Nature report 18 months ago revealed 60% of native species are in decline and one in 10 are heading for extinction in the UK.