QR codes will tell walkers which farm fields are out of bounds

Farms are getting funding to install QR codes telling walkers which fields they cannot run through

We are all used to looking for signposts on rural walks - but what about looking for QR codes instead?

The countryside is to be sprinkled with the scannable codes to help ramblers understand farmers’ fields and where they should and should not walk, a minister has said.

Speaking at an event organised by the charity CPRE, Victoria Prentis, a minister in the department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra), said the measure would provide more information for visitors about farmers’ work as well as decreasing conflict by making sure they are aware of how to behave responsibly.

Government-funded schemes would “pay for QR codes on signposts”, she said.

These would “explain to the general public what is going on in the field, why it’s not great to run through it at all times of the year, why you should keep a dog on the lead, why you shouldn’t perhaps go in at the moment of lambing,” she added.

The charity called for better funding for green belt land to stop it being built on by property developers.

Spending on the green belt “lags behind” the rest of the countryside, it said, with just over a quarter of green belt agricultural land covered by schemes which reward farmers for looking after the land in an eco-friendly way, compared to 42 per cent nationwide.

Current farming payments under the EU Common Agricultural Policy are set to be replaced by a new environmental scheme being gradually rolled out over the next few years, though the details of how much farmers and landowners will be compensated and for what is currently unclear.

The charity said the green belt would become increasingly important because of the cost of living crisis.

Paul Miner, the head of policy and planning at CPRE, said: “With train fares going up, cost of petrol going up, it’s going to be more difficult for the public to be able to get to national parks, but with the green belts, we’ve got countryside that is just as beautiful, just as valuable, just as accessible.”

Crispin Truman, the chief executive of CPRE, said: “The alternative to funding the green belt increases the risk of it being built on it instead. History repeatedly shows that when protected countryside is under-appreciated it’s at risk of being lost forever to development.”