We are currently undertaking a Defra test and trial (T&T) on the local delivery of environmental land management. It is a Somerset-scale project and is focused on:

• Establishing current large-scale projects that are managing land for environmental benefit.
• Current and potential networks where there is collaborative working, or there is the potential for this, to deliver positive landscape-scale environmental impacts.
• Private finance markets that could provide necessary resources for projects to be realised.

As part of the T&T we are involved in farmer engagement with the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) and will be holding workshops in February 2024 to provide information about the strategy development process and its focus, and to gather the views of our members to feed back to the council and Local Nature Partnership (LNP). Through our Barometer Farms, we are trialling the development of a farm management plan to support farmers in identifying opportunities that would bring funding and private finance to their businesses whilst also benefiting nature and reducing or adapting to climate change impacts.

We have been working with the LNP, on their green finance subgroup, to gain a better understanding of current private finance opportunities and those that are on the horizon, as well as considering a framework for supporting farmers in making the most of this market given their specific farm circumstances.

We will shortly be advertising a workshop on ELMS, this test and trial and regulatory compliance, where we hope to have speakers from the Environment Agency and the Rural Payments Agency. We will advertise this opportunity in the usual way and update this webpage with the booking details, so watch this space.

If you would like to contact us about the test and trial, please email Mandy Lowe, [email protected]

Somerset ELMs Local Delivery Test and Trial Update – June 2024

We have been gathering information from a variety of stakeholders through workshops, surveys, through our advisers and our project work with partners. Below are some of our findings so far. 

Our objectives

To establish a local delivery model broadened to Somerset as a whole county and investigate the potential to partner with the Local Nature Partnership to achieve the following Defra foci:

1.    To use local priorities to set strategic direction by bringing together different strategies, priorities and plans for the local area and assessing the resource needs of farmers and land managers in the area to deliver to priorities.

2.    To establish payment mechanisms to channel private funding, acting as 3rd party initiator for supply and demand of funding/finance.

3.    To enable effective partnership working and accountability (with ALBs) by working with ALBs at a county level to provide a consistent message about county priorities, and working with the local authority, LEP, LNP etc. to target activity.

4.    To support and enable existing collaboration and advice models in the local area by helping identify places where facilitated groups would be best delivered and creating networks for facilitators and advisers in the local area. 

To use local priorities to set strategic direction by bringing together different strategies, priorities and plans for the local area and assessing the resource needs of farmers and land managers in the area to deliver to priorities.

•    Current Somerset Council strategies, along with Partnership Plans for Protected Landscapes, River Catchment Plans and a small  selection of collaborative projects have been brought together using a collaborative platform called One Planet.

•    Links have been made to develop shared outcomes and indicators,  and to unpick outcomes that may differ across local strategies and partnership plans. We are hoping to expand this work to include a full range of Somerset projects and plans and enable multiple users to use the platform. We hope this will facilitate us to all work effectively to achieve our shared county priorities.

•    Information has been gathered from the farming community through the following means: Somerset Council LNRS Farmer survey, FWAG Barometer Farms questionnaires, Farmer Workshops, Adviser feedback, feedback from existing cluster, network and association groups. 

To establish payment mechanisms to channel private funding, acting as 3rd party initiator for supply and demand of funding/finance.

•    Terranomics have been working with us on this part of the T&T. FWAG SW established, mapped and gathered detail of the current projects in Somerset that are investible through green finance. We established whether they were early, mid or late stage of investment readiness, the size of the land on which the nature-based solution (NBS) was planned, and which markets they would be providing the resource for.

•    They have created an NBS project review for the county within which they estimated the value and size of the current projects in Somerset, giving a worst case, mid-range and best-case estimation using recent published unit/credit pricing.

•    They have also produced a review of farmer commitments for blended finance, within which they outline processes for engaging with each of the current green finance markets.

•    Terranomics have interviewed local businesses to gauge the appetite for investing in, and current understanding of, the green finance market.

•    They are in the process of finalising a green finance concept document for Somerset which they will present to the Local Nature Partnership in July.

To enable effective partnership working and accountability (with ALBs) by working with ALBs at a county level to provide a consistent message about county priorities, and working with the local authority, LEP, LNP etc. to target activity.

•    FWAG SW have been working with the Environment Agency on regulatory compliance, specifically with Farming Rules for Water, Storing Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones regulation. We have set up regular meetings between EA and FWAG SW advisers to ensure we can give the best advice to enable compliance. We have also run a workshop for farmers on the subject (February 2024). Our newsletter items have included some key points from these meetings that we felt it important to share.

•    FWAG SW are part of many steering groups / partnership groups which have enabled us to provide a voice for our members and also to ensure our work is in line with our shared county priorities. Some of these include: Somerset Council meetings – climate, BNG, Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS); Local Nature Partnership (LNP) board and subgroups – Green Finance, Food and Farming; Somerset Catchment Partnership (host and attendance); Landscape Recovery Projects on the levels and moors and on Exmoor. 

•    FWAG SW have been developing the use of the One Planet Platform to bring local plans, strategies and projects together to ensure consistency in outcome and to enable us to achieve outcomes in the most cost effective and efficient manner. We met with partners in April to discuss how the platform could further support future alignment and will continue discussion and development in July.

To support and enable existing collaboration and advice models in the local area by helping identify places where facilitated groups would be best delivered and creating networks for facilitators and advisers in the local area.

•    FWAG SW have been establishing the Moor Associations on the Somerset levels and moors, to facilitate collaborative working on a hydrological scale.

•    FWAG SW have also been working closely with Barometer Farms, and existing networks such as the Exmoor Hill Farmers Network. 

•    We continue to consider a variety of advice and other collaborative models that may fit with the current need within Somerset.

•    We have been mapping existing community action groups and speaking with some about actions they are taking and structures they are following to make the group sustainable and inclusive. 

•    We have been directly working with some community groups, facilitating the use of the Integrated Local Delivery Model created by FWAG SW to enable sustainable action to be taken within communities. The foci of the groups have been: flooding, climate change mitigation and adaptation, litter free communities, soils and provision of locally sourced food. We will continue to gather information about existing groups and facilitate the development of new ones. 

Thank you to all those who have taken part in the T&T so far. If you would like to know more about any of the above or would like to be involved, please contact Mandy at [email protected]