Project lead: Amy Burnett, Middlesex University London

Project members: The Environmental Farmers Group (EFG), Wiltshire; Prof Fergus Lyon, Middlesex University London

Project summary: Natural capital markets offer new income opportunities for farmers, including payments for carbon sequestration, water quality, biodiversity, soil health, and farm diversification. Farmers can generate revenue by selling environmental value and providing access to their facilities. To support farmers, providing information and empowering them to navigate nature-based and climate financial incentives is crucial.

This project explores a cooperative governance model where farmers are organized to represent their members to buyers of natural capital products. The cooperative acts as a one-stop shop, facilitating negotiations and ensuring equitable transitions for farmers to secure fair prices for the benefits derived from their land management practices. The project assesses the effectiveness of this model in meeting farmers’ needs and explores its scalability to promote just transitions for farmers in negotiating nature-based benefits.