Wouldn’t it be great to find a way of feeding birds and bees while raising much needed funds for a cancer charity?
Sunflowers are the solution, says Merseyside arable grower Olly Harrison, who has set aside a hectare of land to grow the crop.
He says it is a "brilliant source of food" for bees, birds and other wildlife.
Olly, of Water Lane Farm in Tarbock Merseyside, estimates there are 75,000 flowers in his field.
For each one he wants to raise a £1 for an independent charity called Sunflowers that supports cancer patients, survivors and carers in Merseyside.
Olly says: "I grew the five acre field of sunflowers and millet after rabbits ate all the winter wheat that was on it.
"Originally I wanted to see if the flower would grow well in my region."
"After standing in the field watching bees feeding on flowers I thought it would be a shame to harvest them and would be nice to leave them for the birds to feed on over winter.
"It was at this point that I came up with this idea of raising money from them for charity.”
By visiting Olly’s JustGiving page, you can pledge money to the charity and your support for British farmers who have embraced the conservation agenda.
Farmers have planted or restored 30,000km of hedgerows and reserved the borders of fields to plant wildflowers for birds and bees.
They are also ensuring cleaner water by using less fertiliser and pesticides than ever before.
Olly adds: "I will lose money on the field by not harvesting the flowers but that's farming at present.
"I am already loosing on the rest of my crops this year with a poor harvest and poor prices so giving something to a good cause will cheer me up and if it's successful I will grow some more next year."
