How Europe is helping farmers change — and what the UK could learn

Tom Scrope

Jun 25th, 2024

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4 min read

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Key insights from a packed two weeks in 🇳🇱 🇩🇪 🇩🇰 🇳🇴 for my Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust research:

Lisa, Helga & Djessie explained how the popular BodemUp scheme pays for one-one sessions with soil advisors. Funded by government & water companies; but key is trusting the advisors & a hands-off approach. Something to copy in 🇬🇧?

A man and a dog beside a large green crop sprayer in a store stacked with wooden potato boxes — A sprayer and stacked potato boxes in a farm store.

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ZLTO (farming union) is behind it. They are not only lobbying but also facilitating technical advice for their members. Should the NFU (National Farmers' Union) follow suit?

Selfie of Tom and a friend beside a car outside an office building with a Dutch banner reading Er is geen planeet B — Outside an office in the Netherlands.

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At Wageningen University & Research Prof. Johan Bouma's analogy of a hike 🥾 clarified for me the range of support needed to help a farmer change how they manage their soils:

Primary is the motivation to make the journey
Guides along the way (other farmers, agronomists. Johan calls them 'Lighthouses'; I prefer guides as a farmer can become a guide to others)
Financial support: sustenance for the journey
Practical support: your 'walking boots'
Monitoring: checking you're going the right way gives the morale boost to carry on

Soil profiles on display during the visit.

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Soil Benchmark's Soil Management Plans already help with 2. It made me think about what more we can do for the others.

The new Sustainable Farming Incentive generated lots of interest. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 farmers seem more positive about it than 🇪🇺 farmers are about the Common Agricultural Policy; 👏 Jonathan/Janet.

I saw companies also stepping up on incentives, notably Arla Foods. Ashley explained how they've surveyed 8000+ farms for 4 years, detailing which farms are leading in different areas (feed efficiency, soil health, etc.). The 'FarmAhead Incentive' ups the milk price for every action a farm takes to improve.

Arla run knowledge exchange events between top & bottom scoring farms. Like BodemUp, they pay for independent, practical advice to help farms work out how to improve. These huge companies can really drive change, not just by committing resources (though that helps) but by helping share knowledge between their farms.

Selfie of Tom and a woman in a tractor cab — In the tractor cab on one of the farm visits.

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Jörn & Meinke both highlighed the role of apprenticeships in Germany in sharing knowledge. Even those growing up on farm have to work elsewhere for a few years; they usually farm differently when they come back home.

In Denmark Torkild at SEGES Innovation and Jon at Innovation Centre for Organic Farming talked me through their Levy system. Research organisations bid directly for levy money, so research is very practical. In the UK researchers get money via Innovate UK and the levy all goes to AHDB - Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Is this as good at making sure research meets farmers needs? It also helps that SEGES run MarkOnline (Denmark's version of Gatekeeper) and so use real farm data to drive their research.

Huge thank you to Lotte, Judith, Meinke, Sven for having me to stay and organising visits, and the Yorkshire Agricultural Society for funding my research.