Groundswell: more than a glorified Glastonbury for farming

“Farming is at a precipice.”

These were the words of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, speaking this week in a packed out auditorium at Groundswell Festival in Hertfordshire.

Adding that “demands on farmers have never been greater,” his words could have conveyed a less-than optimistic outlook for the future of UK agriculture. Yet, all in attendance seemingly understood the significance of his message. The prince went on to explain how innovation can be born out of adverse challenges and that regenerative practices can act as a cornerstone for farming and food production. This mindset of cautious optimism for the future of farming is something that echoed throughout the two-day show.

The regenerative farming festival is now entering its ninth year and has clearly grown year-on-year, not only in terms of the number of attendees, but in the stature of guest and expert speakers. As well as royal visitors, talks feature pioneering guests such as regenerative farmer Gabe Brown, Wildfarmed’s Andy Cato and many more.

It has also developed in the sheer variety of subject matters that are touched upon. Talks ranged from big-picture concepts such as ‘Reshaping supply chains’ and ‘Measuring food quality, nutrition and health’ – topics that relate to all land managers. But a number of in-depth and specialised subjects were also in consideration, including workshops called ‘Aerobic Composting’, ‘Ozempic vs Organic’ and ‘How beavers can boost your farm resilience’.

While some will have enjoyed the 6am bird walk or morning yoga session on day one, others will have used this time peruse the lengthy catalogue of talks and workshops to make their plans for the festival schedule. Akin to circling your favourite shows in the TV guide over the Christmas period, the number of interesting options makes it impossible to attend each learning opportunity on display.

One of the first talks of note focussed on nature markets, with the chance to have an honest look at the state of play in the market place and inspire from experience. The Speakers Corner tent in the heart of the festival was packed to capacity, showing the level of interest in the potential of nature markets and other sources of funding for the environment.

Chaired by CLA Chief Land Use Policy Adviser Susan Twining, the talk featured Helen Avery from the Green Finance Institute, Alex Begg from the Wendling Beck Landscape Recovery project and Ivan De Klee from Nattergal.

The question posed to the panel at the start was whether nature markets have moved on from the ‘wild west’. There was feeling that progress had been made in the last year with a lot of innovation in the market place enabling good projects to get off the ground, but with more still to do. From the two live examples at Wendling Beck and Nattergal there was a demonstration of the art of the possible, but also reality checks on the complexities of landscape scale delivery, the time commitment, and the financial risks and rewards. For those projects the economic outlook is positive over the long term, but the investment is significant.

Attendees learnt that as well as the advisory sector increasing in capacity and land managers building awareness and understanding of the possibilities, the government is currently consulting on proposals to drive greater demand from the private sector and unlock financial flows. However, the government is also considering controversial changes to the delivery of some legal requirements to make house building and other developments easier. These may also impact emerging nature markets, adding unwelcome policy uncertainty.

A pertinent question from the audience about the market accessibility to smaller landowners highlighted that there is still more to do to move from the perpetual pilots to fully functioning markets that are accessible to more people.

We were pleased to host some fascinating sessions at the CLA stand at Groundswell, including a delicious breakfast on the second day. Our first was an enlightening roundtable called ‘Land sparing vs land sharing’ which featured Professor John Gilliland, an expert in sustainable agriculture land management practice and policy.

Professor Gilliland is an advisor to AHDB and a member on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, so was the perfect spokesperson to lead a discussion on the importance of baselining for individual businesses and for government. Roundtable attendees were left with a better understanding on how we can achieve the right balance for food security, nature recovery and climate action.

Another eye-opening session was chaired by the CLA’s Judicaelle Hammond and focused on the potential for regenerative agriculture to restore protected areas such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). The panel, made up of CLA members Annette McDonald and John Cresswell and the National Trust’s Ben McCarthy, discussed everything from the role of agri-environment schemes to the benefits of conservation grazing.

It was an insightful discussion, which prompted some interesting questions from the audience, and reflected the passion of land managers for restoring and conserving protected sites, and the challenges of the existing system.

Back at the CLA stand, it was standing room only for guests at our ‘Wildlife Farms and Estates (WFE) roundtable’ where guests could experience firsthand insights from members who have recently become WFE accredited – the gold standard of farm and estate management for the benefit of wildlife and biodiversity.

CLA Vice President Joe Evans chaired the roundtable as experienced land managers Jake Fiennes, Ed Trevor-Barnston, Dr Johnny Wake and Mark Cunliffe-Lister opened up about the lessons they have learnt when looking to boost biodiversity on their estates.

The second day saw the arrival of Defra Secretary Steve Reed, who gave a speech and participated in a Q&A in one of Groudswell’s most popular sessions. One theme in the session was the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which more detail will be expected about in July, but will be simplified and open sometime in 2026 with packages of actions.

Budget control will be a clear requirement of the next iteration. Mr Reed was critical of the design of the previous version of SFI, with the absence of budget controls leading to the unexpected closure of the scheme in March. There were some reassuring words around the underpinning rationale for the Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) as a whole, however, it was clear that these schemes are very much seen as providing help with a transition, which has a beginning and an end. The inference was that farmers and land managers should not be complacent about access to public money, which whilst available in the short-term, may not be in the future.

The topic of farming profitability was also mentioned and is a key area of interest for Mr Reed, who has commissioned Baroness Batters to undertake a review of farming profitability in England. According to his address, the Defra secretary sees profitability as a major problem that needs to be tackled and with his background in managing accounts and budgets in previous roles, is eager to uncover the underlying reasons why so many farmers struggle to make a profit and what steps can be taken to change this. Baroness Batters is due to report back in October and the CLA is feeding into the review.

With such a variety of talks and concepts on display throughout, no doubt there will be many land managers who arrive home after Groundswell with a number of new ideas or practical changes they could implement on their land.

You get the impression that no matter what level of farming knowledge you have or the size of your plot, the festival is accessible to all who engage with it. After all, as His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales said in his address, “we must learn from the land and those who tend it.”