THE newly appointed chairman of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group in North Yorkshire, Mrs Pauline Nicholson, is out to persuade farmers of the benefits of changing their outlook.

Mrs Nicholson, the first woman to hold the post, said: "In the past we saw many hedgerows and trees taken out on farms to improve efficiency but now there is growing concern about global warming and everyone is so much more conscious of its implications."

Mrs Nicholson hopes to get more farmers and landowners aware of the benefits, both environmental and financial, in using less fertiliser and of planting native trees on their land.

"Money can be saved on fertiliser on crops for instance by using less because there is not the demand there was three or four years ago."

Yorkshire born and bred, Mrs Nicholson is from Oldstead near Kilburn, Thirsk, and married her husband, Trevor, from Bedale, in 1972.

She had studied languages at university and became interested in farm conservation when she and her husband took a farm near the Thirsk by-pass.

Today, they farm 1,000 acres on a mixed farm at Thornton Stud, Thornton-le-Street, Thirsk, where Mrs Nicholson also has 28 horses.

She specialises in breeding for National Hunt racing and among her successes has been the foxhunter event at Aintree where her horse Gunner Welburn was a winner, and at Cheltenham her Wild Dream was placed second.

Her interest in conservation includes bird life. She is a bird recorder for the British Trust for Ornithology and by re-planting hedges and trees, wildlife in general can thrive, said Mrs Nicholson.

She and her husband became involved with FWAG when they decided to re-instate hedgerows and ponds which had been lost on their land.

The new vice-chairman of FWAG is Mr Andrew Corner of Baldrence Farm, Easingwold. Two new farmers have joined the committee, Alison Bray-shaw and Mark Exelby both from Grewelthorpe.

As a result of receiving funding from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, it is now offering free advice on conservation, he said. "It can be given to any farmer or landowner with more than ten hectares of land who has not received a similar funded visit in the last three years."

Mr Phil Lyth, senior conservation adviser, said the visit could include a farm visit and a report, together with advice on how to obtain grants to carry out conservation work.

In the past year, 153 farm visits were made in North Yorkshire by FWAG officers and 40 applications made under the countryside stewardship scheme.

"Most of our time has been spent advising North Yorkshire farmers and helping them to make the best of the current very difficult situation" said Mr Lyth.