Up to 120 staff at the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) are being made redundant after the charity fell into administration.

Former FWAG managing director Andy Ormiston said the charity had been in discussions with The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and Masstock Arable, but neither organisation could agree terms to help it survive.

As a result, the charity was forced to concede defeat and it fell into administration on Thursday (17 November) following weeks of uncertainty over its future.

FWAG was forced to close after the government slashed its environmental funding in the comprehensive spending review last autumn.

“We have fallen into administration and it’s a sad day for FWAG, financially,” said Mr Ormiston.

“But the spirit and the ethos of the charity will live on. It’s a case of ‘watch this space’. It isn’t going to go away.”

FWAG was originally formed in 1969 by a group of farmers concerned about the impact of intensive farming methods on the environment.

Mr Ormiston said for the time being the charity could go back to its roots by forming a network of regional groups.

“Now that the organisation has finally gone into administration groups are looking into forming regional groups,” he said.

“Local groups will reform and in the fullness of time we could see the charity reform as one individual entity.”

Early reports suggested that farming groups in Yorkshire, Suffolk and Wales were in discussions to set up regional organisations, based on FWAG.

Former North Yorkshire FWAG chairman Nick Ramsden said: “It’s sad that the national FWAG has gone into administration, but the positive thing is we are going to keep it going in Yorkshire.

“We think we will be able to call ourselves Yorkshire FWAG. We would like it to be a seamless move.”

Hertfordshire grower Robert Law, who farms a 1,500ha conservation grade farm on the Hertfordshire/Cambridgeshire/Essex borders as well as a further 485ha in Nottinghamshire, said the loss of FWAG was “a great pity”.