The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has created a new free online resource to for pioneering advisors, farmers and land managers seeking to improve biodiversity and sustainability at a landscape scale.
The Landscape Leaders: Farmer Cluster Training Programme has been created using insights, material and feedback from farmer clusters in both the UK and 10 other European countries.
Nature does not recognise farm boundaries which means that there are greater opportunities to create significant benefits for biodiversity and healthy ecosystems when farmers collaborate. By voluntarily forming a ‘Farmer Cluster’, supported by an advisor or ‘facilitator’, farmers can collectively manage functional biodiversity crucial to their farming systems - such as soil health, natural pest control and pollination - while also contributing to regional conservation and sustainability priorities.
About the Course:
This new course has been created the GWCT, alongside other partners in the EU H2020 Project FRAMEwork: Farmer Clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems. If forms part of the project's open access knowledge and action platform Recodo.
The programme is tailored to those exploring the concept of Farmer Clusters and the environmental opportunities and challenges they respond to. The course will be especially beneficial for new farm advisors, and farmers of all types, those interested in farm management for biodiversity within current environmental and sector contexts.
Course Highlights:
Participants will gain a comprehensive understanding of Farmer Clusters, from on-the-ground operations to broader support systems. The curriculum includes insights and material from the FRAMEwork project’s experience supporting 11 new Farmer Clusters in 10 EU countries, plus over a decade of experience more than 100 Clusters across the UK.
Benefits of Enrolling:
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
✔ Appreciate the context surrounding Farmer Clusters
✔ Understand the ethos behind their success
✔ Navigate common obstacles Clusters face
✔ Describe select biodiversity monitoring approaches
✔ Describe select habitat management approaches
Who Should Enrol?
- Lead Farmers and Facilitators interested in setting up a Farmer Cluster.
- Supporters seeking best-practice information and insights.
- Individuals curious about the Cluster approach.
- Students or early-career professionals looking to work in agriculture or ecology.
Will The Course Receive Updates?
The course is guaranteed to be updated to incorporate new material and feedback for the remaining duration of the FRAMEwork project, ending in October 2025. Course content is also planned to be provided in select additional languages.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Niamh Mchugh, Head of Farmland Ecology
- The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Burgate Manor, Fordingbridge, Hampshire, SP6 1EF
- E-mail: nmchugh@gwct.org.uk
- Tel: 01425 65238
Notes to editors:
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust – providing research-led conservation for a thriving countryside. The GWCT is an independent wildlife conservation charity which has carried out scientific research into Britain’s game and wildlife since the 1930s. We advise farmers and landowners on improving wildlife habitats. We employ more than 60 post-doctoral scientists and other research staff with expertise in areas such as birds, insects, mammals, farming, fish and statistics. We undertake our own research as well as projects funded by contract and grant-aid from Government and private bodies.
The FRAMEwork Project:
The EU H2020 FRAMEwork project aims to enhance how agrobiodiversity is valued within our food system - promoting collaborative agrobiodiversity management across diverse ecosystems and landscape stakeholder groups. Its Farmer Clusters serve as living labs for life and social science research as well as citizen engagement initiatives.
Funding Acknowledgement:
This project receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 862731. For more information visit the Framework website.