2026

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.

Joe Stanley was in the auditorium on 24 February for Secretary of State Emma Reynolds’ address to the National Farmers Union’s annual conference in Birmingham.

With nearly 70% of Scotland’s land used for agriculture, farmers will play a key role in addressing the biodiversity and climate crises. In order to document what habitats are present and their condition, NatureScot has been developing tools to help farmers to quantify their habitats and how they are performing.