Defra and the Environment Agency have commissioned a free nature market toolkit to support the UK’s farming community.
Created by the Green Finance Institute (GFI), the interactive farming toolkit has been carefully created to empower farmers with the knowledge they need to fully understand and navigate the emerging nature market opportunities.
It will contain key information regarding carbon credits, biodiversity net grain and nutrient neutrality and will be updated as the market evolves and related policy and regulations develop.
The resource will also help farmers looking to attract private sector financing to pay for additional improvements to the natural environment, supporting them with access to the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF).
The third round of NEIRF makes funding available exclusively to farmers.
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Environment Agency NEIRF programme manager Andy Slaney said the toolkit would be an “invaluable resource” for farmers who are considering how to “enhance nature and improve the climate resilience of their businesses while seeking to maintain a suitable income”.
“We want nature markets to help the farming community transition to a sustainable state, this Toolkit will help anyone embarking on that journey.”
Farmer, Oxbury Bank co-founder and Evenlode Landscape Recovery project chair Tim Coates said farmers should be “supported and empowered” to enter nature markets in order to receive the just rewards for their land stewardship and the provision of ecosystem services on which we all depend.
“The publication of the GFI farmer-focused toolkit is an essential development to enable widespread adoption of nature-based solutions and income in farming businesses across the country alongside the traditional markets of food, fibre and timber, whether based on carbon, biodiversity, nutrient quality or natural flood management.”
