farmers

Many of the most telling innovations that make a difference on-farm come from farmers themselves, or from close collaboration between farmers, advisors, industry and researchers

 

The importance and value of farmer led innovation is increasing being recognised. The Farmer-Led Innovation Network (FLIN) represents a range of organisations that are active in supporting this space.

 

Related Organisations

Content below is from across the PEP community and is not necessarily endorsed by Stewards or by PEP

Connected Content

ADAS provides ideas, specialist knowledge and solutions to secure our food and enhance the environment. We understand food production and the challenges and opportunities faced by organisations operating in the natural environment

Innovative Farmers was established in 2012 by the Soil Association with the aim of bringing scientific rigour to on-farm trials co-designed by farmers and researchers. With a focus on sustainability and resilience, groups come together on discrete topics and on-farm trials addressing the topics that matter to them.

YEN

Yield Enhancement Networks (YENs) were launched in 2012 to support and energise on-farm learning-by-sharing and thus to enhance farming progress.

The Farmer-Led Innovation Network (FLIN) are UK based organisations driving farmer-led innovation - working together to power up and increase the impact of farmer led innovation initiatives.

The Farming and Land Use Team at the Soil Association have a specialist knowledge of all UK agricultural sectors as well as in depth understanding of organic and agroecological food production systems. Our goal is to support organic and non-organic farmers alike to transition towards more sustainable practices.

Practical sustainable farming regardless of labels.

Share your views on how we can improve Farmpep.net

The Farming Innovation Programme is part of Defra’s investment in innovation, research and development. Defra is partnering with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on the programme. 

To celebrate 10 years of the YEN, we are hosting a YEN conference that brings together learnings from across our networks. 

DEFRA funding in partnership with Innovate UK, which is looking to support farmers, growers, and foresters who have a bold, ambitious idea. 

The Farm Carbon Toolkit was created by farmers for farmers. For over a decade, we’ve worked to further the understanding of greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. We provide tools and services to measure impact and run projects with farmers that inspire action on the ground. Our vision is a farming sector that minimises its carbon emissions and maximises its carbon sequestration, whilst producing quality food and a wide range of public goods, all produced by resilient and profitable farm businesses. Some people call this vision a regenerative farming future.  

Bringing the real food and farming movement together. Every January the Oxford Real Farming Conference connects people in the UK and around the globe who want to transform our food and farming system

  Supporting farmers with robust design and analysis of on-farm experiments in tramline trials.

Farm-centric research generally involves On-Farm Experimentation and may be better described as 'Farm Action Research', i.e. research conducted at least in part by and for beneficiaries who also farm. 

Funding available for research and knowledge exchange in the UK comes from a mix of public, industry and charitable sources

Slug-Resistant Wheat A project to explore the properties of Watkins 788, a landrace wheat believed to be resistant to slugs, never before been grown in the UK. 

The ideas behind Farm-PEP came together in ~2018, drawing from the developments of Agronomics, the YENs, AHDB's Monitor Farm programme and the idea of a 'What Works' Centre for Agriculture. 

On Farm Experimentation (OFE) is increasingly being recognised as having transformative power in improving performance in agricultural systems across the world.

The British On-Farm Innovation Network   A network of farmers who carry out their own on-farm trials and share the results, seeking a scientifically robust way to progress farm practice.

Thrive through change with the Royal Agricultural University

Poster paper given at IFS 2022 by Daniel Kindred, Roger Sylvester-Bradley, Pete Berry and colleagues. Conventional routes to generating knowledge of ‘what works’ in agriculture have relied on (i) farmers developing their experiences and passing these on locally, and (ii) researchers conducting small plot experiments on a limited number of sites, analysing data and drawing conclusions in a more generic top-down fashion. The advent of (i) the internet enabling ideas and data to be shared widely and (ii) precision farming technologies enabling comparisons or trials by farms, provides the opportunity to interconnect the top-down approach with a more robust farm-centric bottom-up approach.

ADAS have produced a new guide with our five top tips for successful on-farm trials. We'd love you to give it a try and to hear about what products or approaches you're testing on farm - by sharing the results of trials, we can learn more together.

Business and Innovation Mentoring Course from Farm491 and RAU. We’re excited to launch our very own online course which can be accessed by any entrepreneur across the world. The course encompasses four interactive modules which will see you develop your business plan and understanding of your customers

Innovative Farmers has now been running for a decade, facilitating farmer-led research to some of

Scientific paper looking at the relationships between scientists and farmers:

Agricultural research is conducted by a range of organisations, from individual farmers, through advisors, distributors, manufacturers, charities, societies, supply chain companies, levy bodies, universities and research institutes.  This page aims to connect across these often disparate sources.

The development of Farm-PEP Performance Enhancement Partnerships to support on-farm knowledge generation through shared ideas, data and experimentation. Funded as part of Farming Innovation Pathways programme from Defra and Innovate UK Transforming Food Production.

An internationally excellent Research Institute” (REF, 2021). Shaping rural development policy and practice in the UK, Europe and further afield.

Knowledge Exchange in Agriculture in the UK is diverse, with many organisations involved. That is part of the reason for creating Farm-PEP, to help provide connections to what many percieve as a fragmented landscape.

EIP-Agri Project supporting groups of YEN farmers to test specific ideas.

Policy plays a critical role in shaping the agriculture industry in the UK and Europe. Government policies can have a major impact on the way that farmers operate, the crops they grow, and the prices they receive for their products. Policy has a major effect on how land is managed and environmental outcomes.

The Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust is a charity organisation whose aim is to bring positive change to agriculture through the development of its future leaders, sending them overseas to learn from others and helping them share their brilliant ideas when they return home.  

The MGA is independently run "by growers for growers".  The farmer led council commissions research on maize and wholecrop agronomy, utilisation and environmental issues.  The results of this work alongside knowledge picked up elsewhere are quickly transferred to members via regular mailings, demonstration sites, conferences and study tours.  

Precision farming company with 20 years experience, based in Scotland but active across the UK. 

Guidance from ADAS Agronomics on how best to conduct Line Trials on farm.  

Series of articles in CPM reporting results from research projects by AHDB & others

Trinity's next generation global farm platform empowering everyone to learn, collaborate, and discover together

Established in 1981 "to advance education and leadership in all aspects of the science and technology of agriculture"

Hybrid conference held in Montpellier in October 2021 exploring Farmer Centric On-Farm Experimentation.  

Scientific paper in Field Crops Research published by the ADAS Agronomics team reporting experience working with BASF Real Results farmers conducting around 50 on-farm Line Trials per year.

This is a communications project for British agriculture. Our aim is to build confidence among farmers and growers about talking to the media; while helping journalists and programme makers find independent, authentic voices at the grassroots of farming.

Prompted by conversations on twitter this page is to explore where rates of nitrogen on-farm can be reduced whilst soil organic matter levels and yields are increased, using regenerative agriculture practices.

Trinity's next generation global farm platform empowering everyone to learn, collaborate, and discover together

Scientific paper just published:   Roques, S., Kindred, D., Berry

  Join with members of the Innovative Farmers network past and present for an insp

Refereed paper in Journal of Rural Studies by Sandra Šūmane and colleagues (2018). 

Innovation in agriculture refers to the development and implementation of new ideas, technologies, and practices in the agricultural sector.

Aiming to strengthen the impact and benefit of agricultural research at scale. Supported by the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust.

How do you conduct and manage robust research and development at scale on your farm? What are the best methods for data collection and analysis? What are the best approaches to collaborative projects with researchers? Join us on April 28th as we explore the scientific approaches to on-farm trials and how to work more effectively with researchers.

Scientific Paper by Rob Bramley, Simon Cook and colleagues in 'Agronomy for Sustainable Development' 2022.

Long-term experiments (LTEs) are valuable resources to assess the sustainability and resilience of agricultural practices and systems.

The Second International Conference on farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation

At Groundswell, join us at the Innovative Farmers stand from 12-1 on Thursday 29th June for a clinic on Farm trials: how to make the most of them. A chance to share experiences and have your questions answered by ADAS and IF experts

The Global On-Farm Experimentation Network has been set up to connect OFE communities worldwide. GOFEN is setting up a directory of organisations and actors with an interest in OFE. It will be launched at the OFE 2023 conference in December 2023.

Harvest Weed Seed Control (HWSC) A project to explore harvest weed seed control (HWSC) under UK conditions as a method to control grassweeds and reduce the dependence on chemical control, particularly glyphosate.

The demo design guide summarizes in 6 steps how to design an on-farm demonstration event, starting from a clear definition of the objectives and ending with a good evaluation and follow-up.

Ideally I am looking for a grower of leeks using a protected system to produce mycorrhiza on a comm