Our Achievements

Farming Futures has achieved huge recognition within the agricultural industry in just four years of operation.

• Our website was voted the number one site for information on climate change and agriculture in the Farmers Weekly climate change special publication.
  o Since March 2009 the website has averaged 7912 page impressions per month (an increase of 164% on the year before) and 1794 unique users per month (an increase of 200% on the year before).
• Great brand recognition – 47% of farmers now know who we are
• We have high-profile support from the likes of Lord Rooker, Jonathon Porritt and the Rt Hon Hilary Benn, who said at the Oxford Farming Conference (2009) that he "welcomes the achievements of the Farming Futures project in giving farmers advice on tackling climate change".
• We have our own column in British Farmer and Grower and have featured prominently in the farming press, including Farmers Weekly, Farmers Guardian and BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme.
• Our events are proving to be very popular…nearly 1200 farmers, growers and land managers have attended our 12 events in the last year.
  o And are also valuable…at our events we consistently make the case for action. As a result of a renewable energy workshop in the south east, 43% of attending farmers said they would definitely be taking action on their farm.
  o An average of 90% of delegates rated the event they attended as ‘good or excellent’
  o We continue to raise awareness in the farming community of some of the most pressing issues facing the farming industry…at our ‘irrigation in a changing climate’ event, all attendees expressed their concern over the impact of future water availability on their business.
  o The events also provide useful feedback on farm interests…at one of our renewables workshops 97% of delegates saw energy generation as a good or excellent business opportunity and at a beef and sheep workshop 90% delegates said they wanted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their farm.

"This is exactly the sort of event I needed - great speakers covering the core issues. I'm now in a great place to make a decision. I will be spreading the word and I expect you will need to run a lot more of these events."

Delegate following the renewable energy workshop, December 2009

“[The Farming Futures] event was very relevant for farmers and land owners. I learnt more today than in hours of lectures”

Natalie Yeatman-Reed, student. Following the South East Renewables event, 2010

“We need more events like this. If we’re asking farm businesses to reduce their emissions, we need more opportunities for them to understand the reasons why, and to get ideas on how they can cut emissions while improving their bottom line.“

Martin Nesbit, Department for Energy and Climate Change. Following the livestock event, 2009