FABulous Farmers
FABulous Farmers came to and end in 2023. Funded by Interreg North-West Europe we supported farmers in the transition to agroecology in South West England, West Midlands and Wales.
The FAB measures:
- Crop rotation
- Mixed crops
- Field edge/margin management
- Agroforestry
- Wood edge / hedgerows
- Input of organic matter and fertiliser quality
- Green covers / catch crops
- Non-turning (minimum) tillage
Resources
Agroforestry
- Learning Networks in the South West England and Wales
- Contact us to signup to the Agroforestry Newsletter to find out about up coming events and updates
Films and webinars:
Watch our FABulous Agroforestry in the Uplands film
Watch our FABulous Agroforestry in the UK Film
Growing trees from seed – a beginners guide
Other resources about agroforestry:
Agroforestry on your Farm resources page
Agroforestry and farm woodland e-learning
Agroforestry handbook
Herbal leys (mixed crops)
- Learning Network in the South West
- Contact us to sign up to email updates from the South West Herbal Leys Learning Network
Catch up on webinars:
Learnings from New Zealand – diverse forages and dynamic grazing management
Herbal Leys Virtual Field Day part 1 – Establishment and Management
Herbal Leys Virtual Field Day part 2 – Soil Health, Grazing and Ensiling
Read related articles:
Are multispecies swards a herbal remedy for livestock?
Why is sanfoin known as 'holy hay'?
Diverse forages and dynamic grazing management
Tips on establishing and managing herbal leys
Minimum tillage / Green covers / Catch crop
- A learning network is being established in the South West
- If you are interested in being part of this network contact us
An overview of main achievements
1. Creating learning networks
Farmers often trust the experiences of other farmers above or alongside research-based information. Coming together as peers around a particular practice or idea in the spirit of ‘show and tell’ adds a level of relatability that can speed up its adoption on-farm.
Devon farmer David Snowden says “You can be quite isolated on a farm, but when you go [to a FAB event], you get the opportunity to chew the fat with other farmers and find out what they're doing”.
Our Farming Advisor Karen Fisher agrees “I'm always amazed when we get groups of farmers together how engaged and passionate they are – including discussing things that have gone wrong. They really learn from each other's experience and knowledge”.
Key achievements
On-farm walks and demonstration events: 500 attendees
Webinars (sometimes replacing in-person events during lockdown): 450 attendees
[several events were co-hosted with Farm Carbon Toolkit]
Agroforestry Learning Networks: Set up in target areas (south west England and Wales) involving some 120 participant who attended regional events and receive a regionally specific quarterly newsletter.
2. Uptake of adoption of key practice
FABulous Farmers supports 10 practices which encourage ways of farming that benefit biodiversity - improving pollination, reducing artificial inputs and improving soil health and water quality on farmland.
We have been particularly focusing on some key practices through our learning networks, and stakeholder and policy work. These are agroforestry, diverse leys and mixed arable cropping, cover crops and reduced tillage.
Hosting events, speaking at conferences, networking, having ‘kitchen table’ talks with individual/small groups of farmers and providing resources, advice and support, our work with FAB helps us spread the word in practical and actionable ways.
We often run events in partnership with like-minded organisations such as the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), Wildlife Trusts, AHDB, water companies, and the Woodland Trust. In doing so, we have been able to extend our reach, encouraging more farmers, growers and landowners to adopt nature-friendly practices.
Key achievements:
"We will meet our target of 80 farms adopting FAB practices across the project."
Kate Still, head of farming programmes
3. Beyond FAB - legacy
As a result of our participation in FABulous Farmers, several key activities live on beyond the end of the project.
The Agroforestry Learning Network continues to expand beyond the original target areas and is currently working with over 300 people across the UK.
The Agroforestry Show is the UK’s first and biggest agroforestry event and has support from FABulous Farmers. Taking place in September 23 2023, we are expecting over 1000 visitors and at least 40 sessions. We are anticipating that this will be an annual event going forward.
National events: Under the FAB banner, topics such as herbal leys, min-till, agroforestry, hedgerows and farm woodland management, catch crops and soil health have become the mainstay of our field of expertise at regional and national events such as Groundswell, Oxford Real Farming Conference and Down to Earth. The focus is always kept practical and relevant to on-farm adoption.
Key stakeholder group meetings: We have organised all-day workshops and follow-up webinars with individuals from key organisations, focussing on two key measures, herbal leys and agroforestry.
These groups have come together to discuss the challenges, pinch points and enabling factors that will ease uptake. They have included representatives from Defra, NFU, AHDB, Wildlife Trusts and other environmental and farming NGOs, so between them they hold a great deal of knowledge and influence over what needs to be done. The spirit of cooperation and understanding has been inspiring.
Soil Association Exchange: Piloting of our new online platform to help farmers get the most out of sustainable farming has in part be supported via FAB Farmers. Find out more at Soil Association Exchange.
Citizen science: In 2021, while COVID restrictions were in place, we organised an Easter holiday campaign called Worm Hunt. It encouraged families to look for and count worms in their gardens and accessible public spaces, using our information pack.
Key achievements:
Worm Hunt website page views: 5,818
The project has been so successful that it is now part of our annual communications output to citizens.
When COVID restrictions allowed, we were able to get out in-person with some 60 children in small groups.
4. In the media and online
Short films: Support from FAB enabled us to make two films about agroforestry (Agroforestry in the UK and Agroforestry in the Uplands). They have been phenomenally successful, totalling over 106 thousand views.
Our head of programmes Kate Still created a short film Agroecology in Action: FABulous Farmers measure, giving an on-farm whistle stop tour of how and why FAB practices deliver for biodiversity, climate, soil health and the bottom line.
Publications: Articles about FAB-related measures have been published in more than 20 on and offline farmer-facing magazines and periodicals.
We also presented a policy paper to Defra, highlighting the value of FAB measures and how they need to be adopted into the new ELM scheme along the need for advice and peer to peer learning to build the confidence and knowledge to encourage large scale uptake.
Social media – twitter and testimonials: across Soil Association and Innovative Farmer Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, social media posts have reached over 3.3m people, with 22.9k engagements.