WHITE PEAK FARMERS – GOING STRONG FOR 10 YEARS!
- peakadvertiser
- Jul 23
- 3 min read
White Peak Farmers is celebrating its 10-year anniversary!
Ten years running as a farm facilitation group gives a unique opportunity to look back and reflect on the successes and impact, as well as some of the challenges of facilitating collaboration.
The group first started out following a conversation between five farmers and their local advisor around a kitchen table in the summer of 2015. The conversation centred around forming a farmer group which would be supported by a dedicated ‘facilitator’ through a new grant called the Facilitation Fund.
The Facilitation Fund was innovative and ambitious. It aimed to get farmers and landowners to work together and join up their land management so that greater environmental benefits could be achieved. This was to be aided by providing advice to groups of farmers rather than individuals, to encourage cooperation, connectivity and landscape impact.
White Peak Farmers is located on the southern tip of the Peak District’s White Peak near to Ashbourne. The group has helped nature to recover across its collective holding and has delivered bespoke interventions on 67 ha of farmland – such as wildflower meadow restoration, creation of scrapes and wetlands, and enhancement of woodlands. New ditches and 15 ponds have been created or improved, and 7 km of hedgerows have been created or enhanced through planting hedgerow trees.
The group has put together project ideas, seen as part of long-term objectives to achieve resilient, high quality and species-rich habitats that also work for farmers and their farm enterprises. The group are continuing to improve these areas, as well as developing new ideas.
The group runs activities from farm walks and open days to bringing in expert speakers, having covered topics from the benefits of dung beetles, creating healthy soil to the benefits of diverse swards, carbon calculators, business advice and farm diversification. The group has a strong emphasis on providing advice on producing food sustainably and providing environmental benefits, as well as emphasising the importance of personal and family wellbeing. Advice on environmental schemes and achieving greater financial security are key topics.
The group has always been guided by farmers and landowners, which is central to its success. Volunteers have been important too, and a range of volunteer groups have supported many of the group’s projects. Collectively, volunteers have contributed almost a year to group projects and have helped carry out activities that otherwise would not have happened, such as dew pond restoration, hedge planting, collecting wildflower seed, growing wildflowers and planting them out into sites (volunteers have grown over 10,000 wildflowers and 500 trees which have been planted out to help restore diversity in meadows, woodlands and hedges).
White Peak Farmers may be the first group to set up its own wildflower and tree nursery – aided by volunteers and funding – with the ambition to use it to help restore farmland habitats but also to create opportunities for selling into nature markets and offering an alternative income stream, which is something the group want to build on.
The impact of working together has revealed clear and positive changes to people and wildlife, such as new locations where uncommon wildflowers are now establishing, or conservation concern butterflies that have had targeted interventions to benefit them. Numerous bird species are benefitting from the better quality and joined up habitat.
One of the strengths of the facilitation group is its emphasis on building connections and relationships. The group is very much about people, community, working together and supporting farms. It is helping to reduce isolation among farmers through providing regular opportunities for farmers to meet up. White Peak Farmers celebrates its members’ achievements and aims to be a welcoming and warm group and additional social occasions strengthen its community foundations.
White Peak Farmers is demonstrating that nature friendly farming and sustainable land management can offer a future for the UK’s wildlife as well as providing people with the basic essentials: food, healthy soils, clean water and clean air.
The group could not have achieved so much without the support of countless people. White Peak Farmers sends thanks to all who have been involved and remembers those that are no longer with us. This article is dedicated to Wilf Ward, a truly special, founder member who continues to inspire the group.
For information about the group, visit our website www.whitepeakfarmers.org.uk or social media pages. Email info@whitepeakfarmers.org.uk or call 07729 101574.
Membership is free and open to all farmers and landowners in the White Peak, and nearby areas.
