Farmers' leaders have announced details of a private finance project said to have "huge" potential to help sugar beet growers across East Anglia achieve their net zero ambitions.
National Farmers' Union (NFU) Sugar has laid out details of an ongoing project which aims to unlock funding opportunities for growers and help them reach their carbon goals.
NFU Sugar Board chairman Michael Sly unveiled a partnership with NFU Energy as part of NFU Sugar’s centrepiece project at the NFU conference in Birmingham this week.
The aim is to provide a way for growers to be fairly rewarded for environmental services and emissions savings which they are able to deliver on farm.
Michael said the partnership would allow the sector to engage with private environmental marketplaces such as LENs (Landscape Enterprise Networks) in a way that “the NFU has never done before”, marking a “hugely significant step” for the sector.
LENs brings private and public-sector organisations together around a common interest in funding nature-based solutions in particular places and acts as a broker between buyers and groups of landowners.
“The point of LENs is that it’s the farmer’s choice and agency – if you can think of something that works for your farm we’re asking you to put that forward,” explained Dan Sokell, managing director of LENS East of England.
NFU Energy plans to connect growers - through NFU Sugar - to funders administering incentives.
The role LENs could play following the government's latest announcements on Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) and payment increases was discussed by an NFU conference panel.
Matt Ryan, regeneration lead at Nestlé UK & Ireland, explained that LENs would act as a platform for partnership.
“Rather than having multiple projects with growers we see that the NFU could be a vital link between corporate agri-environment initiatives – maximising efficiency and reducing complexity, and paperwork, for growers," he said.
“We see LENs as a vehicle to collaborate. We want to make this as simple as possible and have a coherent ask for growers rather than multiple businesses and projects.”
Michael Sly, chairman of NFU Sugar, said for LENs to work for growers, it would need to be clear and understandable.
Growers would need to know what is expected of them and when they can expect to receive payments, he said, adding that the offer must be flexible and able to coexist with food production and government schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
He hoped that the discussion showed to growers that there was financial support from supply chain partners out there - including LENs - who are interested in improving the environmental footprint of the sugar they procure in the UK.
NFU Sugar adviser Sam Williamson said the project was notable in the sense that Nestlé approached growers directly with an ambition to directly incentivise environmentally-friendly farming practices on-farm. This led NFU Sugar to the LENs.
“There are certain things growers are better placed to deliver than the processor," he said.
“There is only so far we can go with options already on the table such as ELMs and the SFI, but connecting with LENs can help growers deliver more, sooner within their own enterprises.”
“The collaborative approach with LENs impressed us,” said Lisa Howkins, sales and marketing director at NFU Energy.
Panellists included NFU East director Zoe Leach.
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