Rewilding is a subject that divides opinion.

On one side of the debate are its advocates who want farmers to stand back and let nature to take its course.

On the other there are those who worry that it just accelerates a move away from food production and traditional livelihoods in Wales.

The idea of restoring land to a natural state and creating more nature-friendly farming practices seems like a good one in theory.

But would removing farmed animals and letting nature run wild produce the result that enthusiasts of rewilding would have us believe?

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Without grazing animals, bracken, gorse and trees would surely take over. Yes that’s good news for woodland wildlife but what about species that rely on grazed meadows for their existence? The law of unintended consequences.

Then there is the small matter of the food we need to sustain ourselves as a population, and with more of us needing sustenance every year that’s got to come from somewhere.

If fertile farm land is turned over to pure conservation then it’s taken out of food production at a time when the global population is rising and food security is a serious issue.

It is surely not right to import food when we can grow our own as by doing so we are simply exporting our environmental obligations.

What makes more sense is to have pockets of rewilding on marginal and unproductive land within existing farming systems, where wildflowers are sown, hedgerows restored.

In 2018 Britain’s largest ever rewilding project, Summit to Sea, was unveiled, an ambition to create a 25,000 acre swathe of wild land from the top of Pumlumon Mountain in mid Wales to the coast at Cardigan Bay.

Within a year the project instigators had abandoned the project after they met with fierce resistance from farmers, foresters and local communities.

To make progress in what is undoubtedly a complicated area, land-use debates should in future take account not only of wildlife but of food, tourism and jobs.

Wildlife and food need to be integrated, they can’t be traded off against each other.

Getting the right balance of food production and conservation is crucial for the future of the Welsh countryside and for everyone who lives and works in it.