Farming against the Grain: a holistic, qualitative study on Nature Friendly Farming

Despite significant agricultural policy change in the UK towards delivering public goods and services, evidence suggests that farmers still feel compelled to continue using intensive production methods, to the detriment of farmland biodiversity. The current inability of publicly funded agri-environment schemes to turn the tide of farmland biodiversity decline necessitates research to determine, in a more integrated and systemic manner, what motivates and enables nature-friendly-farming. Our qualitative study focused on two farm landscape clusters, in East Anglia and Somerset respectfully, and one UK-wide farmer led network, Pasture for Life. Our results demonstrate how the UK’s neoliberal market economy continues to constrain nature-friendly-farming, despite the power of social and environmental values in motivating and enabling such practices. We discuss how the current economic system, and its associated values and societal norms, constrain farmers’ choice, erode nature friendly farming structural enablers and how nature friendly farmers are going against the grain, inadequately supported by the wider agri-food system. We go on to describe how to support transformative change in agriculture, arguing that leverage points focused on integrating diverse valuations of nature offer a more resilient, impactful pathway.