The Landworkers’ Alliance is a union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers.

Feedback for us

If you have any comments, critiques, considerations, compliments, complaints, about anything the Landworkers Alliance is or isn’t up to, do let us know your thought. We love feedback, it keeps a system healthy. Please fill in this quick form.

Membership / Supporter / Donation Queries

Please contact Lauren.Simpson@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Requests for work, volunteering or internships

We are currently not recruiting for any roles but please read our newsletters for any announcements. We currently do not offer any volunteer or internship placements directly with the LWA, but keep an eye out in the newsletter or on the forum for any members looking for volunteers or workers.

Academic/Research Enquiries

Please look at the Agroecology Research Collaboration to see if it fits your area of research/work.

Membership Support / Advice

Currently the LWA does not have capacity or resources to help individual members or potential members on their specific projects, farms or programmes. We get a lot of requests for individual support and would love to have the time to respond to each request in full. We are fundraising for a new role for somebody to focus on membership support and services as we have identified it is a gap in our offering so please watch this space. Having said that, if your query is critical and urgent please email info@landworkersalliance.org.uk including the word URGENT in the subject header and it will get picked up and we can try our best to help.

Contacting Individual Staff

Please take the time to explore our staff page here to see who the most relevant contact for your enquiry is.

Our addresses format is firstname.lastname@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Please bear in mind we all work part time and have limited capacity to respond to enquiries outside our core areas of work.

You can also find information under the About Us header about branch and regional organising, and identity groups within the LWA membership.

Press/Media Enquiries:

For any queries relating to press please email press@landworkersalliance.org.uk

Merchandise/calendar Enquiries

For any enquiries to do with shop sales including the calendar please email merchandise@landworkersalliance.org.uk

To Include an Item in Our Newsletter:

You can fill in this quick form to submit it to be included in the next bulletin/newsletter. The deadline to submit is the end of Friday each week for the following week’s member bulletin. With the same form you can also submit to the monthly non-member newsletter which goes out in the first week of the month.

All Other Enquiries:

For any other enquiries that are URGENT please email info@landworkersalliance.org.uk with the word ‘urgent’ in the subject header and we will do our best to help.

Follow Us

New Entrants Policy

The current population of UK farmers is an ageing one, and as a consequence we are facing a major renewal crisis in farming and food production.

New Entrants – who are eager to replace retiring farmers and rejuvenate the sector – currently face multiple barriers to entry, including the ever-increasing price of farmland, a near absence of starter farm opportunities, a lack of suitable training and funding, and the discouraging ongoing sell-off of county farms. Not only do we face a crisis of renewal, but also a crisis of diversity and accessibility, with the farming sector statistically the least diverse employment sector in the UK.

There is therefore an urgent need for the UK government and devolved administrations to acknowledge these issues, and to implement policy which supports young and diverse New Entrants into farming. We have therefore developed a number of targeted policies which support New Entrants which include increased funding and support for on-farm agroecological training and apprenticeships, a capital grant scheme to overcome some of the barriers to entry, and a land access scheme to both support organisations providing farm incubation opportunities and to put a stop to the sell-off of council owned farm estates. We are also working with several other organisations to guide and inform Defra’s New Entrants Support Scheme, to be launched in 2022. 

OUR CAMPAIGNS

View Campaign
LUMP SUM AND DELINKED PAYMENTS (2021 - ongoing)
In March, Defra released a consultation on the two new proposed schemes that are intended to replace the current Direct Payment scheme - we want to make sure they link...
View Campaign
Planning (2019 – ongoing)
The current planning system is not sufficiently attuned to the needs of new entrants and agroecological farm businesses

 

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS

Download PDF
Gweithwyr y Tir (LWA Cymru) response to the ‘Careers, education, skills, training and development for agricultural, horticultural and forestry workers’ Call for Evidence (2024)
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LWA Response to the EFRA Enquiry on Education and Careers in Land-based Sectors (2023)
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The Attraction of Agroecology (2022)
Exploring the appeal of working in agroecology as well as the barriers faced by new entrants into agroecological farming and land work.
Download PDF
Agroecology Pathways Booklet: Horticulture (2023)
For start-ups and scale-ups as part of the new entrant support scheme.
Download PDF
Agroecology Pathways Booklet: Livestock and Dairy (2023)
Download PDF
Agroecology Pathways Booklet: Arable (2023)
For start-ups and scale-ups as part of the new entrant support scheme.
Download PDF
Agroecology Pathways Booklet: Forestry (2023)
For start-ups and scale-ups as part of the new entrant support scheme.
Download PDF
Supporting the Next Generation of Farmers (2019)
Schemes to assist the establishment of New Entrants.
Download PDF
New Entrants Start Up Costs (2021)
This document draws together estimated start up costs for a few common enterprises typically established by new entrants to agroecological farming and forestry.
Download PDF
New Entrant Survey (2020)
In April - June 2020, the Landworkers' Alliance ran a survey to better understand the needs, demographics and barriers facing new entrants to agriculture
Download PDF
New Entrants in Agriculture (2017)
A Position Paper Outlining 3 Key Ways Policy Can Support New Entrants
Download PDF
A New Deal For Horticulture 2 (2018)
Proposals For A Horticultural Renewal Program With Case Studies

 

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