Everyone seems to want something different from our rural land, and climate change is hotting up the arguments about food security, biofuels, flood storage and biodiversity. It seems as though any potential solutions just create more problems, as biofuels are painted as a threat to food supplies, research shows that home grown fruit and vegetables may produce more carbon than crops flown in from abroad and rural communities are vociferous in the face of suggestions that the countryside could be flooded in order to save towns. Can government policy and strategic planning really satisfy everyone’s demands?

Philip Lowe is Director of the Rural Economy and Land Use (Relu) Programme of the UK Research Councils.
He has been a leading figure in the development of interdisciplinary rural studies in the UK. In 1992, he founded the Centre for Rural Economy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, where he holds the Duke of Northumberland Chair of Rural Economy.
He has played an active role in rural policy development at the national and European levels and in the North of England. He is a member of the Science Advisory Council of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and currently chairs Defra’s Vets and Veterinary Services Working Group. For his contribution to the rural economy he was appointed OBE in 2003.