For over a decade, the Farmer Cluster initiative, pioneered by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), has transformed how conservation works on farmland.
Background
The idea is simple but powerful: neighbouring farmers come together to improve wildlife habitat at a landscape scale, supported by expert facilitation and shared local knowledge. The Farmer Cluster concept began in 2014 as a GWCT pilot funded by Natural England. It grew rapidly under the Facilitation Fund, with over 220 clusters now covering more than 450,000 hectares (compared to 224 National Nature Reserves covering 116,000 hectares in England).
Each cluster is coordinated by a trained facilitator who supports farmers in sharing knowledge, monitoring progress, and applying for agri-environment support.
The story so far
The Allenford Farmer Cluster, one of the first of its kind formed as a pioneer in 2013, and the Martin Down Farmer Cluster (2017), both founded with GWCT support, now represent some of the most mature examples of collaborative conservation in action. Their 2017–2024 reports highlight major gains for farmland wildlife, from more pollinators and seed-eating birds, to thriving populations of grey partridge, lapwing, and other priority species. These results show what can be achieved when farmers take ownership of biodiversity goals across real working landscapes .
GWCT’s Farmland Ecology Unit has been at the centre of this movement from the start, not only helping to develop and evaluate the clusters in England but also leading the science behind how the model can be adapted internationally. The recently published work from the FRAMEwork project, led by GWCT scientists and partners across Europe, tested whether the Farmer Cluster concept could work in different countries and farming systems. Eleven new clusters were formed across nine nations, from arable plains to olive groves, proving that this “bottom-up” approach can unite farmers, boost biodiversity, and support rural communities across Europe.
Farmer cluster successes!
The Allenford farmer cluster has quite the list of success stories coming from it. From improvements in wildlife such as 44% increase in butterfly species diversity since monitoring started in 2017 as well as increases in hedgehog numbers and successful growth of rare arable plants such as the threatened-critically endangered Pheasant’s-eye. The cluster can all celebrate together sightings of species many might only dream of such as quail, corn buntings, sea eagles, turtle doves and glowworms!
Meanwhile the Martin Down cluster has its own encouraging success stories included 125% increase in corn buntings between 2017 and 2021, a 28% increase in butterfly species diversity since 2017 and 26 arable flora species of national importance spotted. Near enough magical sightings of purple-emperor butterflies, smooth snakes and carpenter bumblebees have also been recorded across the cluster.
These local successes in songbird and other wildlife trends are even more striking when set against the national picture. Farmland bird populations across the UK have declined by around 62% since 1970, with a further 11% drop in the past five years (DEFRA, 2024). Meanwhile over half of UK butterfly species are now in long-term decline.
These biodiversity success stories do not happen by chance though, farmers within both clusters have been putting in the work! Increasing semi-natural habitat by hundreds of hectares, installing turtle dove drinking sites and supplementary feeding songbirds. Other species measures include installing turtle dove drinking sites and supplementary feeding songbirds.
Claims to fame!
These farmer clusters demonstrate how collaborative, landscape-scale conservation can reverse long-term declines and deliver measurable biodiversity gains. Both farmer Clusters have claims to fame that go beyond the wildlife improvements on the farms as well. While Martin Down Farmer Cluster featured on both Countryfile in 2021, both clusters have appeared on spring watch in 2024, and Allenford Farmer Cluster on BBC radio 4. Helping spread the word about sustainable and collaborative approaches to farming has also earnt Allenford Farmers Weekly awards in 2024 while Martin Down won a National Bees needs award in 2020!
The social benefits of Farmer Cluster engagement are also clear to see with both clusters working both internally and with the wider communities to provide education for issues such as hedgehog awareness and even educating Defra and Natural England on farming issues and needs. Both clusters are also hosting crucial scientific research and wildlife friendly initiatives including everything from butterfly banks to regenerative agriculture research.
The secret to success?
The European wide FRAMEwork research confirmed what we’ve seen in Martin Down and Allenford: success depends on trust, local knowledge, transfer of peer to peer knowledge,, and skilled facilitation. Farmers are most engaged when they set their own priorities, whether that’s increasing pollinators, improving soil health, and when they can see results on their own ground.
GWCT’s ongoing role is to provide the science, data, and practical guidance that help these collaborations thrive. From monitoring grey partridge recovery to advising on wildflower margins and habitat mosaics, GWCT advisorsare helping clusters demonstrate measurable outcomes for biodiversity and sustainable farming.
GWCT Senior Farm and Environment Advisor and Farmer Cluster facilitator, Megan Lock, has been central to both clusters’ success, supporting farmers to plan actions, coordinate monitoring and access funding through schemes such as Countryside Stewardship (CS) and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and FiPL. Alongside public funding, many participating farmers have also invested their own time and resources to make these improvements possible, by self-funding their Farmer Clusters by contributing £2/ha.
As government policy continues to evolve, these findings provide clear evidence that locally-led, landscape-scale conservation works, and that empowering farmers to lead is key to reversing biodiversity loss.