Skip to main content
Mark Ward Defra

Mark Ward

Mark is a policy officer in the Farming in Protected Landscapes team. His core remit is to work with colleagues in the Farming Countryside Programme to ensure the best parts of FiPL are integrated into Defra's environmental land management schemes.

Farming in Protected Landscapes: our progress and a spotlight on the 3,000th project

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments to support parks, National Landscapes and the Broads

Since launching in 2021, the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has funded 3,000 projects across England. Together, these projects have created and improved more than 70,000 hectares (ha) of habitat for biodiversity, planted more than 100 miles of hedgerow, more than 100,000 trees  and conserved or enhanced 300 historic features, buildings and structures. In this post I'll shine a light on the 3,000th project and share details of an upcoming spotlight series.

Farming in Protected Landscapes: interim evaluation findings

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Payments to support parks, National Landscapes and the Broads
South Downs National Landscape. A patchwork of fields under blue skies.

Through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme (FiPL), farmers and land managers can get funding to deliver projects that support and improve National Landscapes (formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty), National Parks and the Broads. In this post, I'll share an overview of the programme and findings from the recently published Farming in Protected Landscapes evaluation. The findings give a sense of how popular the scheme has been and the reasons behind it.