A Montgomeryshire beef and sheep farmer says careful land management is the key to biodiversity on his farm.

Carwyn Jones, who farms at Ty Mawr, Dolanog says nature and food production must go hand in hand and believes his family ethos of "looking after the land", passed down through the generations, has rubbed off on his own approach.

The 160 acre beef and sheep farm has been in the family for many generations, with Carwyn taking over full management of the holding from his uncle in 2002.

"I think I’m probably one of the biggest conservationists in the area. My grandad and uncle were the same," he said.

"They too were against spraying and fertilising the ground, pushing the land too much.

"1989 was the last time any fertilizer has been applied to the ground here. The farm is as natural as you can get it. I’m probably more organic here than some of the certified farms."

"There is such a great variety of bird species and wildlife around and I firmly believe that’s because of how this land is managed.”

A champion hedgelayer, Carwyn has established over a mile of hedgerows alongside the farm on each side of the track and has recently planted over 600 new hedging plants.

However, Carwyn is clear that livestock can’t be excluded from the conversation.

"The livestock and the land work well together. I keep Welsh ewes, and I don’t cross them with anything. And I keep Hereford cross cattle. It’s not a highly productive farm, I’m not farming it to its full potential - it’s low input as they say.

"The livestock play an intrinsic part when it comes to biodiversity,"

"My livestock graze on pretty much organic ground, they are naturally fed and I keep a high health and welfare standard. That’s not what happens in other countries and consumers as well as politicians need to make that clear distinction. I'm against intensive farming, but I fear we’re being pushed into it by accident.

"Some of these regulations out now, the small family farm won’t be able to keep up and you’ll have the big farms taking over, swallowing up us small scale farmers.”