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Conversations we're having

Future Farming Podcast: the Farming Investment Fund

Farming Investment Fund podcast

In the latest episode of the Future Farming podcast, Programme Director Janet Hughes talks to the policy lead for the Farming Investment Fund, Sarah Evered. Listen to find out how the team designed the fund, what we've learned and what's coming next.

Tests and trials: innovative payment mechanisms

One area we’re exploring in tests and trials is the role that innovative payment mechanisms might play in future environmental land management schemes. In this post we share what we’ve learned about reverse auctions so far in tests and trials. 

Update on the Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot 

In July, we opened the applications window for farmers to join our Sustainable Farming Incentive pilot.  In this post, Lisa Applin (Rural Payments Agency) and Tom Lewis (Future Farming and Countryside Programme) share the results of the application process, what the team learned and what they will do next.

Answering farmers' questions about the Sustainable Farming Incentive - part 2

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TFF part 2

The Farming Forum recently held a Q&A session with Janet Hughes, Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme Director. Farmers were invited to submit their questions about the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Clive Bailye, Director of the Farming Forum, put the most-asked questions to Janet. This is part 2 of 2.

Things we learned about co-design at this summer's agricultural shows 

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Defra staff at an agricultural show

We recently published a blog post about the things we learned at this summer’s agricultural shows which took place up and down the country. At most of those shows, we ran co-design taster sessions for members of the farming community, so they could get a sense, first-hand, of how they could shape our policies. In this post, we're going to talk about some other things we learned that directly relate to co-design. 

What we’re learning about collaboration through tests and trials

Two people in conversation at an agricultural show

One goal of Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme is to help farmers and land managers achieve bigger, better environmental benefits. There’s a lot that farmers can do individually on their own land, but there are often circumstances where it makes more sense for several people or businesses to join forces and collaborate on something that benefits all of them, as well as the environment. We want to encourage more collaboration like this.

Answering farmers' questions about the Sustainable Farming Incentive

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Conversations we're having, environmental land management schemes, Q&A, Things we're doing

The Farming Forum recently held a Q&A session with Janet Hughes, Defra’s Future Farming and Countryside Programme Director. Farmers were invited to submit their questions about the Sustainable Farming Incentive. Clive Bailye, Director of the Farming Forum, put the most-asked questions to Janet. This is part 1 of 2.

Tests and trials: the latest evidence

We recently published the latest evidence report which pulls together our findings from tests and trials. The report gives an overview of everything we’ve learnt across our 78 tests and trials over the last 6 months. In this post, I’d like to share a summary.  

The Environmental Land Management Engagement Group

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Environmental land management needs to deliver for farmers, foresters and land managers. Because it’s a big and complex area, it’s tempting to consider these groups of people separately, but for our policies and schemes to truly work, we need to bring these groups together. In this post, I'll explain how we're doing that.