Cymraeg A project to fund and support farmers and landworkers to conduct research and trials on their farms and in their woodlands.
‘Experts in Your Field’ is a UKRI-funded initiative that recognises that small-scale farmers and landworkers are leading innovation in farming and land-work, but are rarely rewarded for this or acknowledged by formal research.
It seeks to fund, support and provide equipment for small-scale farmers and landworkers to undertake research that is important to them. The findings of this research will be shared with other farmers, landworkers and policymakers to drive innovation, promote a transition to more sustainable agricultural and other land practices, and provide vital evidence to support change at a policy level.
PHASE ONE
Phase 1 engaged 40 landworkers from across a wide variety of sectors who actively designed the project. Of these participants 22 went on to develop it further, carrying out research on their own farms, sharing their knowledge and findings with each other and forming a strong peer-to-peer network.
- Participants designed and coordinated on-farm research trials during the busy growing season, demonstrating a strong commitment to innovation even amidst production demands.
- The project created space for knowledge sharing and camaraderie amongst practitioners, revealing the depth of experiential insights within this community.
- Testing phase generated compelling data illuminating biodiversity outcomes, while also highlighting barriers that farmers face in conducting their own research independently.
- Securing access to specialised research equipment and providing financial stipends to participants ensured broader involvement, demonstrating that community-based expertise thrives when we value farmers’ time and labour appropriately.
PHASE TWO
With Phase 1 confirming practitioners’ enthusiasm for research and applied knowledge exchange, we are excited to launch Phase 2 of “Experts in Their Field”, expanding the cohort to include more landworkers.
While delving deeper into the biodiversity theme, we will broaden the scope to assess metrics around carbon sequestration, climate resilience, regenerative productivity, profitability, and farmer livelihoods.
Phase 2 will focus on:
- Strengthening peer learning networks for sharing ideas and troubleshooting through the project duration
- Co-designing unified data collection tools for comparability
- Compiling findings in a Community Journal and at the ‘Cultivating Wisdom’ conference (more information below) to inform policymakers and research institutions about the value of agroecology
Cultivating Wisdom Conference
Join us for our ‘Cultivating Wisdom’ research conference taking place from the 21st – 22nd October 2024 at Birch Community Centre, Manchester.
This event is designed to be of interest to farmers seeking to know what research can offer, researchers aiming to connect with farmers or social scientists and economists who wish to better understand to wider societal and financial consequences of the adoption of agroecological practices.
Click here to find out more and purchase tickets.
Stay tuned as we move forward, leading the way in community-driven agroecological knowledge creation!
If you would like to hear more about this project and how you can get involved then please sign up for the upcoming free webinar on Monday the 11th of November. If you can’t make it to the webinar, you can also register your interest here.
CONTACT US
Project officers
Isobel Talks: isobel.talks@landworkersalliance.org.uk
Tara Wight: tara.wight@landworkersalliance.org.uk
