A new network to support innovation by farmers and growers has been launched.
‘Innovative Farmers’ aims to give growers research support and funding on their own terms.
The network was launched at the Houses of Parliament this morning (12 October).
The network is part of the Duchy Future Farming Programme, funded by the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation.
Soil Association, Organic Research Centre and Waitrose have been partners in the programme, and are now joined by LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and Innovation in Agriculture, ensuring that the new network represents farmers and growers across the industry.
David Gardner CEO of Innovation in Agriculture, said: “It is crucial that we support on-farm innovation if we are to meet the challenges ahead. Conventional growers have fewer chemicals to address their problems, along with growing pest and weed resistance to those that remain.
'They will need to find other solutions using the tools that they do have, combined with growing practices based upon sound organic principles. Finding the answers won’t be straightforward, and providing a framework where growers can explore potential solutions with their peers and experiment on their own farms can only help them find the answers.
'Innovative Farmers recognises that many of the best ideas in growing come from growers. They trial, test and analyse, often in isolation. The not-for-profit network matches growers with some of the UK’s best research teams, including Rothamsted Research, IBERS and Harper Adams.'
As well as providing professional support, Innovative Farmers also offers a web portal where groups share their learning, and access to a dedicated research fund.
The partners aim to award more than £800,000 to Innovative Farmer groups by 2020, allowing growers to investigate techniques that will really make a difference on the ground. The network will also help groups apply to the new European Innovation Partnership, unlocking further funding.
At the heart of the network are ‘field labs’, where growers meet in small groups to test and develop new ways of tackling a shared problem or opportunity.
Tom MacMillan, director of innovation at the Soil Association, said; “More than 750 farmers and growers have been involved in the Duchy Future Farming Programme in the last three years, running field labs on 35 topics. The field labs really struck a chord. We asked these people how we could make it even better and Innovative Farmers is the result.
'We’re excited to be joined in this by LEAF and Innovation for Agriculture, so our partnership represents progressive farmers and growers across the industry. This doesn’t simply recognise that these people can share know-how - whether they’re growing to organic, Integrated Farm Management or other principles - but that they can actually pioneer new approaches together.”
The network focuses on finding sustainable answers to growers’ practical problems, from managing weeds and pests with fewer chemicals to testing more sustainable composts. Field labs have already tackled topics from building soil organic matter to trialling biochar, with growers driving investigations. The field labs were inspired by the ‘farmer field schools’ that started in Indonesia, now a movement that has involved more than 10 million farmers in teaming up as groups to learn and solve problems together. The new network adapts this approach to suit the UK’s most innovative farmers.
As well as inviting growers to join, the network is encouraging farm advisors to get involved as group coordinators, accessing benefits for themselves and the growers they work with. The first 20 coordinators have already received their free training.
