LANCASHIRE Wildlife Trust is to fight European Union proposals which they claim could destroy over a million acres of wildlife habitat in the UK.
Under current legislation, up to eight per cent of farmland must be set aside for wildlife.
But the EU commissioner for agriculture, Mariann Fischer-Boel, is proposing that all this land be immediately turned over to the growing of crops.
If this is accepted, the government will have no option but to comply.
Peter Mallon, of Lancashire Wildlife Trust, said: "We must ensure that gains for farmland biodiversity are not lost whilst taking into account the need to provide realistic support for farmers to deliver these environmental benefits."
The set-aside' plan was introduced in the early 1990s as a means of dealing with over-production.
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