The advantages of medieval farming

As The Guardian points out, there are some:

Farming is often seen as inimical to biodiversity, but these thin strips of land tell a more complex story. In the nooks and crannies of medieval farms, like the Vile, a wide range of plants and animals would have found the conditions they needed to survive. Ground-nesting birds could find cover and camouflage in the fields left fallow – something that was done every few years to allow the soil to recover. Baulks offered safe passage to small mammals as they navigated the cultivated land.

If wildlife is what you want then farming inefficiently is just great. As they also - rightly - go on to point out this isn’t useful to us today. If we farm inefficiently then billions will die of starvation. So The Vile is a useful example of the past, not something to be copied today.

Except in one interesting manner:

Studies suggest that hay meadows managed for nature are ultimately poorer in species than those tended to produce winter fodder. This is because the decisions of a hundred individual farmers, tailored to the precise conditions of their land – soil, shelter, wind direction, altitude – create more diverse landscapes than a set of centralised rules.

Or as we can put that - individuals deploying their own assets to maximise utility produce a better outcome than central planning. Yes, OK, that’s an, erm, plan that we can run with don’t you think? Those with the local knowledge should be left to apply that local knowledge to their area of expertise, their locality?

Not that the Guardian would ever admit it but one of those advantages of medieval farming is to prove Hayek right.