Farm Gate

Many farmers have been dismayed by a clause in the UK Planning and Infrastructure Bill that will give Natural England the power to acquire farmland compulsorily to meet nature recovery objectives. The concern has been heightened further because compulsory purchase prices will exclude 'hope value'.

8point9.com's ffinlo Costain is joined by Rob Hindle from Rural Solutions and Gabriel Connor-Streich from Greenshank Environmental.

In the first of our monthly food and farming 'Leaders' series, ffinlo Costain speaks to Shelagh Hancock who became Chief Executive of First Milk at a challenging time and led the company to becoming the UK's first regenerative co-operative dairy.

ffinlo Costain investigates how farmers can earn money by stacking renewable electricity generation with other farming activity.

Featuring:

• Louise Daniels, Head of External Affairs for Thrive Renewables
• Roger Stones, Senior Energy Consultant for NFU Energy
• Harvie Agnew, Policy Analyst at Solar Energy UK
• Nick Spicer, Chief Executive at YourEco
• Nature Friendly Farming Network's Farming Champion, Jon Fish

Farm Gate's Filling the Funding Gap series is sponsored by Barclays, Environment Bank, Forest Carbon, Howden Insurance, Regenerate and Saffery. Farm Gate is part of 8point9.com - the land use news channel.

Further reading from Solar Energy UK

• Farming Sustainably Report - https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/farming-sustainably-report/
• Solar Habitat 2024: Ecological Trends on Solar Farms in the UK - https://solarenergyuk.org/resource/solar-habitat-2024-ecological-trends-on-solar-farms-in-the-uk/

In this programme ffinlo Costain investigates how farmers and other land stewards can earn money from managing water effectively on their land.

Interviews and discussion cover:

What sort of payments are available to farmers?

Where might those payments come from?

Maintenance payments focussed on water infiltration

The relationship between farmers and water companies

The future of nutrient neutrality

ffinlo is joined by:

Andy Cato, Co-founder of Wildfarmed

Gabriel Connor-Streich, Chief Executive of Greenshank Environmental

Tim Stephens, Catchment Partnerships and Delivery Manager at Wessex Water

Lee Truelove, Head of Regenerative Farming at First Milk

This is the fifth episode in Farm Gate's Filling the Funding Gap series, in which we discuss how natural capital markets can help farmers to bridge the gap between public payments and the real costs of transition towards resilient and regenerative food production.

Farm Gate's Filling the Funding Gap series is sponsored by Barclays, Environment Bank, Forest Carbon, Howden Insurance, Regenerate and Saffery. Farm Gate is part of 8point9.com - the land use news channel.

8point9.com⁠ editor, ffinlo Costain, is joined by farmer and columnist, Joe Stanley, for Farm Gate's monthly chat through the big land use topics of the moment.

In this podcast the duo discuss the ongoing battle around inheritance tax - the government's land use framework - and ask whether gene editing is a force for good?

(Views expressed in the podcast by Joe and ffinlo do not necessarily represent the views of their respective companies and organisations.)

What’s a nature credit, what are they worth and how are they sold? We take a tour of the nature credit market - looking the differences between voluntary and statutory credits - governance mechanisms - and how the biodiversity net gain market in England actually works.

Featuring:

• Peter Harker, Partner at Saffery
• And Emma Toovey, Chief Land and Nature Officer at Environment Bank
• With ffinlo Costain

Filling the Funding Gap is sponsored by Barclays, Environment Bank, Forest Carbon, Howden Insurance, Regenerate and Saffery.

In this programme we'll ask - what do UK farmers need to do first to access nature payments?

ffinlo Costain is joined by:

Holly Story, Head of Nature-based Solutions at National Parks Partnerships

Guy Thallon, Head of Natural Environment at Castle Howard

And David Wright, founder and CEO of Ecometric

We're talk about what can be measured and how - options for payments - actions that can be stacked with food and fibre production - and baselining and outcome measures.

8point9.com editor, ffinlo Costain, is joined by a new co-host, Joe Stanley, for Farm Gate's monthly chat through the big land use topics of the moment.

Joe Stanley is a Farmers’ Weekly columnist, author and Head of Sustainable Farming at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Allerton Project.

In this podcast they discuss NFU leadership tactics - whether the ongoing campaign against inheritance tax changes is performative or effective - the UK government's decision to uphold a ban on noenicitinoid use - and new financial incentives to boost on-farm water management.

(Views expressed in the podcast by Joe and ffinlo do not necessarily represent the views of their respective companies and organisations.)

This is the first of 11 programmes in a series called Filling the Funding Gap.

Throughout the series we'll discuss how natural capital markets work and whether they can help farmers to bridge the gap between public payments and the real costs of transition towards resilient and regenerative food production.

In this introductory programme we're taking a broad overview - discussing what we mean by natural capital markets - the extent to which they currently function - and we'll consider some of the ethical dimensions of monetising the natural world in the first place.

Featuring:

Martin Lines, Chief Executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network

Peter Harker, a partner at Saffrey

Tom Johnstone from We Are Nature-Based

With ffinlo Costain, Editor of 8point9.com

This series is sponsored by Barclays, Environment Bank, Forest Carbon, Howden Insurance, Regenerate and Saffrey.

When we think of regenerative food and farming, we tend to think of small to medium-scale farmers, supplying into small or perhaps independent supply chains.

But what about big companies – what about massive corporations – can their supply chains be regenerative too?

Nestlé has become the great big regen corporation – but who’s responsible for that decision, what does regen mean for a global food brand, and how do you deliver transition through such an enormous network of suppliers?

I spoke to Emma Keller, Head of Sustainability, and Matt Ryan, the Regeneration Lead for Nestlé UK and Ireland.