Lottery grant to help northern farmers realise natural capital

A group supporting farmers in the north of England to capture income from natural capital markets has secured £100,000 to fund catchment-scale conservation work.

Wensleydale & Swaledale Environmental Farmers (Swef) Group, one of several farmer-led cooperatives across the UK, will use the National Lottery Heritage Fund grant to pay for initiatives such as repairing stone walls, hay barns and sheep folds, and improving river water quality.

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The group is one of several across the UK that come under the umbrella of the farmer-owned Environmental Farmers Group, an initiative co-developed by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.

As with the others, Swef’s principal aim is to provide a trading platform for farmers in the region to capture income from emerging natural capital markets.

So far, 133 farmers who farm 84,000ha in the region have expressed an interest in joining the group, which is chaired by tenant farmer Mark Willoughby, and are being urged to become full members.

Losses

With the loss of millions of pounds of direct Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments from the region, farmers must find alternative income sources, and emerging natural capital markets potentially provide that, Mr Willoughby said.

The Heritage Fund grant will meet the cost of a group administrator and the rollout of a catchment-scale conservation plan designed by Swef farmers, local estates, and land managers.

Once that plan is in place, Swef hopes to secure cash for restoration projects from public and private finance, including from biodiversity net gain (BNG) and corporate Environment Social Governance (ESG) investment.

GWCT subsidiary, Natural Capital Advisory, will carry out the environmental monitoring.

Targets

The Trust’s chief executive Teresa Dent said paying farmers “fairly” for the environmental goods they can supply, through a blend of private and public funding, is the “only way” the government can achieve its legally-binding targets for nature recovery and food security ambitions.

Swef’s Heritage Fund grant will also pay to create a series of “living history” films that will feature the stories of farmers from the area, chronicling the changes in farming life over the decades.