Presentation to the Swedish Agricultural Board

A request to share project activities and learnings...

Following an invite sent to the project website, FRAMEwork was delighted to present to the Swedish Board of Agriculture's annual seminar on November 18th, 2024, sharing experiences from our 'Advanced Farmer Cluster Network' with over 30 agricultural advisers, administrators, NGOs, and committed farmers.

The Annual Seminar

For 15 years, Jordbruksverket has hosted an annual late autumn seminar focused on the environmental objective "A Varied Agricultural Landscape." This year's program, featured sessions on agricultural biodiversity and ecosystem services, with a special theme addressing "Climate and Preparedness."

The seminar brings together key stakeholders including advisers from Hushållningssällskapet, administrators from county boards, representatives from the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), researchers from SLU and RISE, and conservation organizations like WWF and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation.

Previous seminars have featured British contributors including Georgie Bray from Hope Farm presenting on wildlife-friendly farming models, and Dr. Philip Sterling from Butterfly Conservation discussing managing road verges for biodiversity.

FRAMEwork's Presentation

Project Coordinator Graham Begg from the James Hutton Institute and Deputy Coordinator Alastair Simmons from Taskscape delivered a comprehensive overview of FRAMEwork's approach to biodiversity-sensitive farming. Their presentation covered:

The UK Farmer Cluster Journey: Beginning with the 2010 "Making Space for Nature" report's conclusion that farmland conservation needed to be "bigger, better and joined," Graham traced the evolution from successful pilot studies (2012-2015) through to today's network of 177+ groups covering over 450,000 hectares. This farmer-led approach has proven particularly effective in delivering landscape-scale conservation.

The FRAMEwork Approach: The team explained how FRAMEwork is establishing Biodiversity Sensitive Farming as an approach to enable EU farming systems to conserve biodiversity while benefiting from enhanced ecosystem services and mitigating potential agronomic or economic risks.

Advanced Farmer Cluster Network: A detailed look at FRAMEwork's 11 farmer clusters across Europe, from mixed farming systems in Austria's Burgenland to olive groves in Spain's Cazadores de Aguilar. Each cluster brings unique perspectives on biodiversity-friendly farming measures, monitoring and evaluation, and stakeholder engagement.

Project Resources and Tools: Alastair highlighted the comprehensive resources being developed, including tools for ecosystem assessment, biodiversity monitoring and management, knowledge exchange, and local action implementation.

The Recodo Platform: A demonstration of the innovative online platform (www.recodo.io) being developed within the project, showing how it supports clusters and stakeholders through curated news feeds, resource libraries, and tools for researchers, farmer clusters, local leaders, policymakers, and NGOs.

Looking Forward: The presentation concluded with FRAMEwork's next steps, including the upcoming "Recodo In Real Life" event series planned for 2025, which will bring stakeholders together with the platform's resources in person through webinars and a conference-style final event.

About the Swedish Board of Agriculture

The Swedish Board of Agriculture (Jordbruksverket) serves as Sweden's expert authority for agriculture, fishery, and rural areas. Similar to the UK's DEFRA in many ways, the organization monitors and analyzes sector development, keeps the government informed, and implements political decisions within their field. Their mission centers on promoting sustainable and profitable food production while contributing to animal welfare and vibrant rural communities across Sweden.

As the responsible authority for Sweden's environmental objective "A Varied Agricultural Landscape," Jordbruksverket works to protect the value of farmed landscapes for biological production and food production while preserving and strengthening biodiversity and cultural heritage assets.

Building International Connections

The seminar provided an excellent opportunity to share FRAMEwork's learnings with a diverse audience of practitioners and policymakers, demonstrating how farmer-led approaches can deliver meaningful biodiversity outcomes across different European contexts. The engagement with Swedish stakeholders, a country not included in FRAMEwork, reinforces the project's commitment to contributing to a truly European network of biodiversity-sensitive knowledge.

For more information about FRAMEwork's Advanced Farmer Clusters and resources, visit www.recodo.io or contact the project team through the FRAMEwork website.