2026

The most recent release of Defra’s Wild Bird statistics this week shows that long-term declines in almost all habitats dating back to at least the 1970s continues, with the most significant downward trend impacting farmland birds. However, these generalised declines are not universal, and on farms across the country localised success stories are increasingly common.

At this year’s annual Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) Awards, the Allerton Project was delighted to receive special commendation in the inaugural ‘Water Quality Farmer of the Year’ award, sponsored by Anglian Water, Portsmouth Water, Severn Trent, Southern Water and Wessex Water.

After 18 months in which the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) – Defra’s flagship mechanism to help farmers deliver the food and nature outcomes on which this nation depends – was closed, farmers had less than six hours to submit their applications for three-year periods of funding before the door was once again slammed shut.

The Deveron, Bogie & Isla Rivers Charitable Trust and partners are developing a new farmer cluster in the King Edward Burn catchment in north Aberdeenshire near Banff. Following on from a successful farmer cluster workshop held in Turriff in February, the project will bring farmers together to share knowledge, access advice and funding opportunities, and take practical steps to build more resilient and sustainable farms.

The new Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, Stephen Morgan, is to be welcomed into his important new role during one of the most consequential months in the department’s history – the rollout of what must, surely, be the final iteration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) after a decade of arrested development and false starts under his six predecessors.

On a surprisingly sunny afternoon during an otherwise extremely wet week in early June, a group of South Yorkshire farmers dedicated to grey partridge recovery gathered for a farm walk to celebrate their farmer cluster’s successes so far.

England’s flagship farming scheme returns, but funding gaps and policy missteps threaten both nature and food production.

Recently we have been involved in an alternative auditing scheme called Trusted Game, an audit-based scheme aimed to ensure the health and welfare of gamebirds on shoots and game farms. It draws on proven systems from other industries and offers a practical route to achieving high standards, providing reassurance to the shoots, tenants, landowners and consumers.

Climate change continues to create challenges for British farms but sometimes the weather turns just in time and you have lots of happy farmers!

At a time of geopolitical and climatic instability, neglecting the economic foundations of food and farming is a risky experiment. A resilient farming sector is not a luxury, but a necessity — for food security, the rural economy and the environment.