❝ To build a socially and environmentally resilient and regenerative food system in a net zero landscape, the SFN will connect diverse demonstration farm networks across the UK to share experiences, findings and best practice.❞
Across the UK, thousands of farm businesses are working with others in trying out new things to be more sustainable, seeing what happens and sharing the results. We know that this has a unique role in improving agricultural sustainability in every sense. The Sustainable Farm Networks (SFN) initiative has been brought about to enable these diverse networks in becoming more than the sum of their parts.
Working with Network Stewards - the individuals with the most direct and consistent contact with demonstration farms- the SFN supports and enables cooperation and collaboration. This not only enhances the experience and impact of farmer members but influences farm practice at scale through convincing peers, steers research priorities as demonstrates solutions to policy makers.
The SFN is a free to join, pre-competitive, system agnostic forum working with existing knowledge exchange platforms Agricology and FarmPEP to amplify successes and highlight challenges. The SFN is shaped by members with the support of a steering group representative of supply chain pioneers, farmer innovators, national bodies, land-based training providers, research experts and environmental certification organisations.
There are currently 37 SFN member networks, representing over 2000 farm demonstrators across hundreds of thousands of Ha spanning all UK sectors, systems and nations. We are open to application from any demonstration farm networks, being three or more holdings coordinating activities to implement in common sustainable farming practices, principles or technologies with the intention of disseminating the resulting collated findings, experiences or information.
The Network Stewards Group meets quarterly and opportunities arising for internal or external collaboration are circulated as a bimonthly noticeboard. Broadcasting of activity and success stories to policy makers and a wider farming audience is through the quarterly ‘Snapshot’ newsletter.
Contact
For more information or to discuss what the SFN could offer to your network, get in touch with:
Documents
Network members are farming all across the UK
Check out the interactive map to see whats happening in your region, sector and interest area!
If you run, facilitate, coordinate or are part of a demonstration farm network of any type, scale or sector and would like to be part of the SFN or find out more, please do get in touch with LBates@harper-adams.ac.uk for more information.
Network Stewards working together at Harper Adams to be more than the sum of their parts.
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