Volunteer & Farmer Alliance
Highlights:
2010 - 1,000 farmers requested surveys, and we were able to provide 683 thanks to the 836 volunteers engaged with the project. Advisors made follow-up visits to 159 of these, covering 472 square kilometres of land
2011 - 879 farmers requested surveys, and we were able to provide 738 thanks to the 885 volunteers engaged with the project. Advisors visited 430 farms, covering 827 square kilometres of land
2012 - 770 farmers requested surveys, and we were able to provide 678 thanks to the 785 volunteers engaged with the project. Advisors visited 441 farms, covering 894 square kilometres of land
The Nature of Farming Award
Highlights:
2010 - 134 farmers entered the 2010 Nature of Farming Award. More than 6,000 votes were cast by the general public to decide the winner
2011 - 317 farmers entered the 2011 Nature of Farming Award, which was sponsored for the first time by The Telegraph. More than 22,000 votes were cast by the general public to decide the winner
2012 - 420 farmers entered the 2012 Nature of Farming Award, sponsored by The Telegraph. More than 17,000 votes were cast by the general public to decide the winner
2013 - 121 farmers entered, and more than 13,000 people voted for the 2013 winner. Media coverage included Shooting Times, The Telegraph and numerous local and regional press, local television and radio.
Events
Demonstration events were held throughout the project:
In 2010, 21 workshops were held at demonstration farms, with 825 farmers attending
In 2011, 28 workshops were held at demonstration farms, with 725 farmers attending
In 2012, 43 workshops were held at demonstration farms, with 929 farmers attending
Project communications and media coverage
General media coverage of the project has appeared in The Telegraph (c.840,000 readers), Country Life and the RSPB Birds magazine (2.1 million readers), as well as a long list of regional and specialist papers, farming press and both national and regional television and radio.
The project newsletter, Field of View, was sent out annually to the following:
2010 - 6,969 people received the project newsletter
2011 - 7,719 people received the project newsletter
2012 - 8,431 people received the project newsletter
2013 - 8,540 people received the final project newsletter
New pilot projects
Following a nine-month extension being granted in 2013, the following objectives were added to the project:
- Provide direct advice and monitoring in core areas for farm wildlife across the UK
As a result, the Volunteer & Farmer Alliance did not run in 2013, but during the the life of the project, 2,183 surveys were delivered through this activity. In 2013, we launched our new areas of focused advice across the UK, where we continue to offer farmland bird surveys only in a more targeted way.
- Produce a pilot toolkit of environmental advice and support for English arable farmers with a view to developing similar resources across the UK
We're working alongside agricultural and environmental organisations to develop the Farm Wildlife partnership. This partnership brings together agricultural and conservation expertise to provide the advice that farmers really want - simple, integrated advice which makes sense for their business as well as the environment.
