Crop reforms threaten poppy fields

Poppy fields are vanishing because of new rules on crop production, wildlife enthusiasts fear.

Poppies have thrived in recent years on land left uncultivated as part of a European Union policy to stop over-production.

But European Union politicians now want to boost the production of cereal crops to prevent food shortages.

They have ruled that farmers do not have to leave fields uncultivated this year and their "set-aside" policy - introduced 20 years ago - could be abandoned from 2009.

Environmentalists say the poppy could be a victim of the change.

"There are fewer fields of poppies around this year - and that's because of the change in the set-aside rules," said David North, education manager at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust.

"Just driving around Norfolk, you can see that. You notice the odd one that is there more than ever.

"The set-aside policy has been good for poppies and many other wild flowers."

Two years ago the trust said some of the UK's most famous of poppy fields had been lost because of intensive farming methods introduced in the 1950s and 1960s.

Staff said a survey showed that there were no longer any fields of poppies in an area of Norfolk traditionally known as 'Poppyland'. Travel writer Clement Scott gave the Norfolk coast between Cromer and Overstrand the name in the 1880s in recognition of the scarlet landscape.