Supporting Farmwel
Meeting ffinlo back in 2015, it was clear that he had the passion and capability to positively impact policy and practice — but he was in need of flexible, long-term, funding if he was to have any success.
Working in a stand alone position, ffinlo did not have capacity to spend time applying to various funders. Instead, he needed someone to trust and invest in him. A flexible and trusting approach to funding has allowed ffinlo to focus his time on building partnerships and creating positive systemic changes that have informed and altered the UK’s approach to sustainable agriculture.
Timeline of supported activities:
- 2015 — Farmwel is founded.
Seeing Brexit as an opportunity to do something exciting and new, ffinlo set up Farmwel — a think tank with the intention of identifying and benchmarking sustainable farming excellence.
- 2017 — Farmwel informs government agricultural reform.
sankalpa funded Farmwel to work alongside FAI Farms to develop 18 goals for sustainable agriculture. From this, Farmwel produced a blueprint for agricultural reform — much of which was integrated by the government, and became central to the UK’s agricultural policy.
- 2017 — Farmwel partners with FAI Farms and Oxford University to draw large scale attention to ground breaking research into the global warming impact of ruminant methane.
The scientists, which included Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) authors, discovered that methane from ruminants is not causing additional global warming. Instead ruminants, when well managed in grass-based systems, can produce food, restore biodiversity and help deliver net zero emissions from agriculture.
- 2019 — Farmwel creates Farm Gate podcast.
With topics ranging from the ethics of veganism to the impact of climate change on food availability, 500 subscribers tune in weekly to hear stories about the people and solutions that are creating a regenerative future for food and agriculture.
