FRAMEwork and Farmers

Building on learnings from the UK's Cluster Network, with GWCT's Jess Brooks...

Jess Brooks (left) receiving a biodiversity monitoring award | Courtesy: GWCT

At the H2020 FRAMEwork project kick-off meeting, Jess Brooks, Farmland Biodiversity Advisor at project partner the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), delivered a compelling presentation that cut straight to the heart of agricultural biodiversity challenges. Speaking from her family farm on the Isle of Wight, Brooks brought a unique perspective shaped by her dual background in farming, science and conservation. You can watch videos featuring key sections of her talk on this site's media page.

The Human Dimension of Farmer Clusters

Brooks manages two farmer clusters in the UK, and her opening message was clear: "We must remember that these clusters are made up of people and no two people are the same." This seemingly simple observation underpins a fundamental challenge in biodiversity conservation efforts.

The term "farmer" itself, Brooks explained, encompasses an extraordinarily diverse group. Her clusters include everyone from a Monaco-based stockbroker who owns a farm but contracts out all the work, to a Dorset farmer managing 400 hectares of mixed livestock alone on just four hours of sleep per night. While both may share similar conservation goals, the approaches needed to engage them effectively differ dramatically.

Breaking Down Barriers of Distrust

One of the most significant obstacles Brooks identified is the profound absence of trust between farmers and external entities—whether government bodies, environmental organisations, or the public. This distrust is compounded by overwhelmingly negative discourse around farming and the environment.

Current agri-environmental schemes, she noted, fail on multiple fronts. They don't provide adequate financial incentives, lack proper monitoring systems, and crucially, offer little positive feedback or encouragement. "Farmers in that kind of setting will never be inspired to do more if they feel unappreciated and persecuted," Brooks emphasised.

The administrative burden is crushing. Farmers navigate a maze of rules, inspections, payment delays, and heavy paperwork while facing pressure from all sides. Conservation becomes yet another item on an already overwhelming list of demands.

The Farmer Cluster Revolution

Here's where farmer clusters offer a transformative alternative. Rather than imposing top-down directives, clusters function as enablers, creating bottom-up support networks where farmers choose their own trusted environmental advisers and work collaboratively with neighbours.

Brooks stressed that this approach is essential because "wildlife doesn't need boundaries" and "rivers run through more than one farm." Individual farm-level conservation, while valuable, has inherent limitations. Landscape-scale cooperation is not just beneficial—it's necessary.

Understanding Motivations and Values

Brooks provided crucial insights into what drives farmers. Their core values include pride in land stewardship, quality food production, business success, respect for tradition, and deep knowledge of their local landscapes. Many have witnessed wildlife declines in their lifetimes and genuinely want to reverse these trends.

However, economic realities cannot be ignored. "You don't become a food producer to get rich," Brooks noted, adding that farmers often say they "struggle to be green if their bank statement is in the red." The health of the farm business directly impacts capacity for environmental action.

Learnings for FRAMEwork

Brooks's key recommendation for the FRAMEwork project was both simple and profound: "Forget the outcomes that you want and start with the farmers, understand their psychology!" Success depends on identifying both barriers and motivations, building trust, and forming genuine relationships.

The farmer cluster model demonstrates how shifting from a punitive, top-down approach to an enabling, supportive framework can transform negative attitudes into positive action. By creating mini-communities based on trust, support, and shared knowledge, clusters help farmers move from isolated struggle to collaborative success.

As FRAMEwork develops its co-designed approaches and tests biodiversity measures across its network of sites, Brooks's message is clear: successful biodiversity conservation in agricultural landscapes requires more than scientific knowledge and policy directives. It demands genuine understanding of and partnership with the people who manage the land.

This transformation Brooks describes as possible, from isolated, pressured individuals to supported, collaborative communities offers hope for achieving FRAMEwork's ambitious goals. By starting with farmers rather than outcomes, and by building trust rather than imposing requirements, the project can pilot change that benefits both biodiversity and farming communities.

Jess Brooks is a Farmland Biodiversity Advisor at project partner the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT). The FRAMEwork project aims to support better biodiversity management across European agricultural landscapes through approaches co-designed with farmers and land managers. Contact us to learn more and get involved!