Nature Friendly Farming

What is Nature Friendly Farming?

Food, farming and nature are all interlinked. The quality and type of food we eat depends on a healthy and productive natural environment. At the same time, the way food is produced impacts on wildlife and the natural services that nature provides for us.

Nature Friendly Farming practices are sustainable socially, environmentally and economically. They have a positive impact on nature, whilst producing nutrient rich food. Types of Nature Friendly Farming include: Regenerative Agriculture (also known as Regen Ag), Agro Ecology, SilvoPasture, Permaculture and Organic farming.

Why do we need Nature Friendly Farming?

The climate and biodiversity crisis are interrelated, and the way we manage the land contributes to these crises. Equally, farmers can also be leaders in taking action to tackle them. Around 70% of the land area in Sussex is farmed. To help tackle these crises and support healthy food production, we need a large scale transition to Nature Friendly Farming.

We also need people to support this transition through purchasing Nature Friendly Farming products, growing their own food, and shopping sustainably and locally. Not everyone can afford to choose organic, local food, so we need to work with food producers to ensure that access to healthy, affordable food is both people and wildlife friendly.

What are the Principles of Nature Friendly Farming?

Whether it is creating water-friendly growing and harvesting systems, using natural forages instead of chemical wormers, or regenerating soils to store carbon and biodiversity – Nature Friendly Farming is key to all our futures. 

Key principles of Nature Friendly Farming include:

1. Conserve and enhance natural resources – particularly soil, energy and water
2. Produce as many resources as possible locally – e.g. solar power, water harvesting, compost
3. Zero waste and waste recycling on site
4. Closed loop systems – minimise negative external impacts, and maximise positive local impacts
5. Support local markets, employment, diversity and economy
6. Farm wildlife with nature – farm natural diversity and abundance
7. Be carbon neutral or positive
8. Eliminate (as much as possible) chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and fungicides
9. Know where your food comes from – traceability
10. Be a part of the Nature Recovery Network

Resources – Nature Friendly Farming Network

Regenerative Agriculture

One approach to nature-friendly farming is Regenerative Agriculture. It is an approach to farming that allows the land, soil, water, nutrients, and natural assets to regenerate themselves, as opposed to conventional approaches to farming that can deplete these natural resources. It focuses on topsoil regeneration, increasing biodiversity, improving the water cycle, enhancing ecosystem services, supporting biosequestration, increasing resilience to climate change, and strengthening the health and vitality of farm soil.

Regenerative agriculture is not a specific practice itself. Rather, proponents of regenerative agriculture use a variety of sustainable agriculture techniques in combination. The key principles are:

1. Maintain living roots. Roots feed soil biology. Use cover crops, herbal leys and diverse rotations with varying root depths and structure.
2. Maximise crop diversity. Grow diverse cash crops and cover crops across the rotation. Also increase diversity within crops e.g. companion cropping. 
3. Minimise soil disturbance. Both mechanical and chemical disturbance of the soil impacts biology. Reduce and refine as much as possible.
4. Amour the soil. Keep the soil surface covered with crops, cover crops, residues and stubbles for as long as possible.
5. Integrate livestock. Where possible, integrate grazing animals into the farming system e.g. use sheep to graze cover crops.
6. Context. Do what is appropriate for your farm, your family/business situation and your geography. There is no 'one-size fits all'. 

What is Wetter Farming?

Where can I find Nature Friendly Farming produce in Sussex?

Fortunately, there are lots of options for purchasing nature friendly food and produce in Sussex. If you’re unsure about whether produce is nature friendly or not, most local farms now have websites to provide full transparency on their practices, or you can ask them, allowing you to make informed choices about your food. 

The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership and other Sussex Food Partnerships have lots of well-researched information on sustainable and community friendly food. We have included some options below where you can purchase local, sustainable produce:

• Florence Road Market, Brighton (local vendors, veg box delivery) 
• Slow Grown Farm, South Downs National Park (dairy products, meat, eggs) 
• Ashurst Organics, Plumpton (veg box delivery) 
• Tablehurst Community Farm, Forest Row (meat box delivery) 
• Plaw Hatch Farm, East Grinstead (milk and wool) 
• Limden Brook Organics, Etchingham (meat) 
• Court Lodge Organic Farm, Pevensey Levels (dairy products) 
• Aweside Farm, Polegate (herbs, edible flowers) 
• Fanfield Farm, Polegate (veg box delivery) 
• Park Farm Shop, Falmer (farm shop with variety of produce) 

I’m a farmer and would like to look into changing my farming methods to be more nature friendly, where do I start? 

1. The Nature Friendly Farming Network has a range of resources for farmers wishing to learn more about changing their farming practices
2. At Sussex Wildlife Trust, we offer advice on nature recovery throughout Sussex. We work with many farmers and landowners, including smallholders, traditional farms, estates, community enterprises, permaculture patches, woodland owners, rewilders, equine businesses and local authorities. Visit our Landowner Advice page to learn more or to contact us.
3. There are other organisations dedicated to helping farmers transition to regenerative practices, such as Full Circle Farms (Sussex based) and Pasture for Life (UK-wide), and many regenerative farmers have set up social media channels to document their progress and share tips with the farming community.
4. The Oxford Real Farming Conference and Groundswell Ag Conference are also great places for resources.

We have some fantastic examples of Nature Friendly Farming in Sussex, with more farmers transitioning to different practices to reduce their inputs and increase the resilience of their farming operation. See links below to learn more about some of the farmers paving the way for regenerative agriculture in our County.