1.   In the steepest, wettest areas, stock-rearing takes complete precedence, and little, if any, arable farming is undertaken.

2.   The potential economic damage is not restricted to arable farming.

3.   The Thatcher government has opposed planning controls over agriculture that could have stopped the spread of intensive arable farming.

4.   These were in contrast to upland permanent pasture, where arable farming could only be undertaken infrequently, in special circumstances.

5.   The hedgerows and pasture where the owls hunt their prey are disappearing as farmers create bigger fields for intensive arable farming.