One of the fields in James Bowditch's farm is a nuisance. It is oddly shaped, resembling a lower-case"r", and is on a slope.
詹姆斯·鲍迪奇农场里有一块地很让人头疼。它形状怪异，像个小写字母“r”,而且还在斜坡上。
Mr Bowditch, who farms about 2,700 acres (1,100 hectares) in Dorset, in southern England, used to grow wheat on the whole thing.
鲍迪奇在英格兰南部多塞特郡经营着约2700英亩(1100公顷)的农场，他过去在整片土地上都种植小麦。
These days he grows wild flowers on the most awkward quarter of the field, for which he receives a government grant.
如今他在田地里最贫瘠的一角种上了野花，为此他还获得了政府补贴。
If an ambitious environmental project is approved, he will soon start planting trees.
如果一个雄心勃勃的环保项目获得批准，他很快就会开始植树。
More than two-thirds of England is farmland.That huge slice of the country is changing quickly.
英格兰超过三分之二的地区是农田。这片广袤的乡村正在迅速变化。
Between 2021 and 2025 the amount of arable land that is fallow or used for something other than growing crops more than doubled from 231,000 hectares to 545,000 (a tenth of the total).
在2021年至2025年期间，休耕或用于非作物种植的耕地面积增加了一倍多，从23.1万公顷增至54.5万公顷(占总面积的十分之一)。
The number of breeding beef cattle in England is falling, as is the number of sheep.
英格兰的肉牛养殖数量在下降，绵羊的养殖数量也是如此。
Last year trees were planted on more land than at any time for 20 years. This is a deliberate, managed change.
去年植树造林的面积超过了过去20年的任何时候。这是一次有计划、有管控的改变。
Since leaving the European Union and its common agricultural policy in 2020,
自2020年脱离欧盟及其共同农业政策以来，
England has slashed traditional farm subsidies and redirected money to environmental activities.
英格兰大幅削减了传统农业补贴，并将资金重新投向环保活动。
Despite setting some bold targets for cutting agricultural carbon emissions and aiding pollinating insects, the eu still pays farmers simply for farming.
尽管欧盟为削减农业碳排放和帮助授粉昆虫设定了一些大胆的目标，但它仍然只是为农民的耕种行为付费。
If the transition comes off, England could become a model for other countries,
如果转型成功，英格兰可能会成为其他国家的榜样，
starting with Scotland and Wales, which have been reluctant to abandon the old subsidies.
首先是苏格兰和威尔士，它们一直不愿放弃旧有的补贴政策。
It would be a rare example of leading to progress. Despite some snafus, the switch is going well so far.
这将是英国脱欧带来进步的罕见例子。尽管存在一些失误，但到目前为止，转换进展顺利。
Farmers are adjusting to the new payments system and the land market is changing in benign ways But a nasty crunch is coming.
农民正在适应新的补贴制度，土地市场也在朝着良性方向变化。但一场严峻的危机即将来临。
The thinking behind England's agricultural transformation was outlined in 2018 by Michael Gove, a Conservative minister.
2018年，保守党部长迈克尔·戈夫概述了英国农业转型背后的思路。
Per-hectare subsidies did not work, Mr Gove argued. They pushed up land values and impeded innovation.
戈夫认为，每公顷补贴的方式行不通。他们抬高了土地价值，阻碍了创新。
The state should instead pay farmers for providing public goods,especially environmental ones.
国家应该转而向农民支付提供公共物品的费用，尤其是环境方面的公共物品。
Despite objections from groups such as the National Farmers' Union, which has tried to argue that food production is a public good, Mr Gove's vision has prevailed.
尽管全国农场主联盟等团体提出反对，试图辩称粮食生产是一种公共利益，但戈夫的愿景仍占了上风。
Subsidies have been cut relentlessly since 2021. They will disappear entirely next year.
自2021年以来，补贴一直在持续削减。明年补贴将完全取消。
Farmers can pick from a new menu of environmental actions with distinct payment rates.
农民可以从一系列有不同支付标准的新环保行动中进行选择。
The grant for leaving crop stubble over the winter, which enables skylarks and yellowhammers to build nests, is £58 ($78) per hectare.
留茬过冬的补贴为每公顷58英镑(约合78美元)，留茬可以让云雀和黄鹀筑巢。
The grant for sowing wild flowers is £739 per hectare. It has been a bumpy transition.
播种野花的补助金是每公顷739英镑。这一转变过程并不顺利。
Some environmental options have had few takers, while others have been too popular.
一些环保选择鲜有人问津，而另一些则大受欢迎。
Arable farmers put a startling 75,000 hectares of land into a scheme that paid for growing plants that feed birds in winter.
耕地农民将惊人的75，000公顷土地纳入了一项计划，该计划为种植冬季喂养鸟类的植物提供报酬。
More than 200 of England's roughly 100,000 farms took at least four-fifths of their land out of production, spurring the government to clamp down.
在英格兰约10万个农场中，有200多个农场将至少五分之四的土地停止生产，这促使政府采取严厉措施。
It is a bad result if Britain grows no food on good land and ends up importing more grain from countries with lower environmental standards, says Lydia Collas of the Green Alliance, a think-tank.
智库绿色联盟的莉迪娅·科拉斯表示，如果英国任由优质农田荒废，最终不得不从环保标准较低的国家进口更多粮食，这将是一个糟糕的结果。
Helen Radmore, a livestock farmer in Dartmoor,complains that the national menu ignores differences in climate, soil and ecology.
达特穆尔的牲畜养殖户海伦·拉德莫尔抱怨说， 国家菜单忽视了气候、土壤和生态的差异。
Upland farmers like her can apply for grants to graze cattle and sheep at low densities, which in theory improves moorland.
像她这样的高地农民可以申请补助，以低密度放牧牛羊，理论上这有助于改善高地荒野。
But Dartmoor is afflicted by purple moor grass, a nuisance species. Low-density grazing seems to encourage it.
但达特穆尔高原饱受紫沼草这种有害物种的困扰。低密度放牧似乎助长了它的蔓延。
"You cannot have the same stocking rates from Cumbria to Cornwall,"she argues. And the new system has been rolled out clumsily.
她争辩道:“从坎布里亚郡到康沃尔郡，养殖密度不可能一样。”而且新系统的推行很不顺畅。
重点单词：
1 agricultural [ˌæɡrɪˈkʌltʃərəl] adj. 农业的
2 benign [bɪˈnaɪn] adj. 仁慈的；温和的；良性的
3 deliberate [dɪˈlɪbərət , dɪˈlɪbə reɪt] adj. 深思熟虑的；故意的；从容不迫的 v. 仔细考虑；研讨
4 ecology [iˈkɒlədʒi] n. 生态学；生态
5 graze [ɡreɪz] v. 放牧；（牛、羊等）吃草 v. 轻擦；擦伤 n. 放牧 n. 擦伤
6 prevailed [priˈveild] vi. 盛行；获胜；劝说
7 receives [rɪˈsiːvz] v. 接到；收到；接待
8 slice [slaɪs] n. 薄片；部分；曲球 v. 切成薄片；割；切开
9 slope [sləʊp] n. 倾斜；斜坡；斜面；斜率；斜线 vt. 使倾斜 vi. 倾斜；有坡度 10 strategies [ˈstrætidʒiz] n. 策略，战略
11 subsidies [ˈsʌbsidiz] n. 津贴；补助金
12 summarize [ˈsʌməraɪz] v. 概述，摘要而言
13 swamp [swɒmp] n. 沼泽，湿地 v. 淹没，陷于沼泽
14 technique [tekˈniːk] n. 技术，技巧，技能
10个月宝宝每天需要喝多少奶粉？
