Make a donation

Help fund our work to amplify nature-friendly farming’s benefits to farmers and policymakers across the UK

Policy & Views

Read a variety of articles, including topical blogs, comment pieces on policy developments and updates on key moments in farming.

Campaigns

Catch up with our latest campaigns and find out more about our work.

Farm Practices

Explore information on many aspects of nature-friendly farm practices.

What is the NFFN?

Discover our mission, our vision and the challenge we meet.

Meet The Team

Meet the farmers in our regional steering groups and the staff team at our core

FAQs

Got a question about nature-friendly farming? We've got it covered here

Supporters

We're proud to work with many organisations who support our mission.
Resources

General Election Resource Hub

United Kingdom
Policy & Views
policy

The upcoming general election is a crucial moment for the NFFN and its members. Action on farming can help drive economic growth, improve public health and contribute towards the recovery of our environment and biodiversity. Yet the stakes are high for food and farming at this election, with farmers continuing to face significant challenges on many levels.

We are encouraging our farming members to actively engage with their local candidates and incoming MPs to ensure that nature-friendly farming remains at the top of the political agenda.

We have compiled a bank of resources below, which we hope you will find useful. If you have any questions or wish to get involved further, please don’t hesitate to contact our MP Engagement Officer, Mary, at mary.white@nffn.org.uk. 

What constituency am I in?

Please note: this may have changed since the last time you voted, as many of the constituency boundaries have shifted

Find out

Who are my candidates?

You can also find out their contact details here

Find out


NFFN Manifesto

Earlier this year, we launched our own manifesto: Field of View - A Roadmap to a Better Food and Farming Future. You can read about the manifesto and its launch here.

Our roadmap is based on the delivery of seven key asks, some of which are further detailed in a series of corresponding blogs on our website:

  1. A decent return for nature-friendly farming to secure ambitious farm system change

  2. A fair and transparent supply chain for a better deal for farmers

  3. Core trade standards which uphold our own

  4. Supporting healthier choices to improve public health

  5. Ambitious farm-level schemes, making nature-friendly actions the easy choice

  6. A new farming baseline that protects the environment and deters bad practice

  7. Investment in people and places to enable a widespread farming transition


Questions for candidates

Candidates will seek your vote over the coming weeks, whether online or in person, over email or on the doorstep. Many farmers and members will want to use this opportunity to raise awareness of our work and encourage candidates to pledge to implement supportive measures post-election. We encourage you to flag issues and the concerns you have for your farm or local area - you are more likely to get a response if you add a personal touch - but we have come up with some questions to help you get started:

  • Will you pledge to deliver a fit-for-purpose agriculture budget to mainstream nature-friendly farming?

  • What steps will you take to ensure a fair and transparent supply chain to strike a better farming deal?

  • Will you work to support the introduction of core trade standards, safeguard UK farmers and the environment, and ensure that the domestic market does not compete with products produced to lower environmental and animal welfare standards?

  • Will you take action to support healthier dietary choices?

  • Will you support the delivery of ambitious farm-level payment schemes to secure sufficient uptake amongst farmers while delivering the right mix of ambitious actions to ensure tangible benefits for farm businesses and the environment?

  • Will you call for a new farming baseline to protect the environment, health and animal welfare?

  • Will you support targeted investment in people and place, enabling and delivering farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchanges, multifunctional land use and many other steps to support and empower farmers transitioning to sustainable farming? 


Meet our MP Engagement Officer

Our MP Engagement Officer can help with anything you might need relating to candidate engagement over the next couple of weeks and MP engagement after the election. We will need many farmers to host their MPs on their farms once the new government is in post. This is important to:

  • Maintain the direction of travel towards a nature-friendly farming future. 

  • Introduce new MPs to the NFFN and begin building positive relationships. 

  • Immediately start influencing the next government’s agricultural policy. 

If you have any questions about candidate engagement or are interested in hosting your MP on your farm after the election, please contact Mary on mary.white@nffn.org.uk 

Mary White
MP Engagement Officer

Mary studied Liberal Arts at the University of Bristol, specialising in agricultural and environmental studies in her final year. Her dissertation was based on industrial agriculture and its associated issues of connectivity to land, food and communities. She then went on to work in political research, working with MPs to deliver written responses to national campaigns and constituent correspondence.

While in this position, she undertook research related to DEFRA, with a focus on agriculture. Her interest in nature-friendly farming piqued during the first lockdown when she became more aware of the resilience of local food systems in times of global crisis. From there, the interconnectedness of food, climate and social security became clear. Nature-friendly farming will play a critical role in alleviating a multitude of national and global issues; as such, Mary’s aim at the NFFN is to demonstrate this to MPs and decision-makers and influence them to act on it now.

read more