Building Partnerships for Nature Recovery

Woodoaks Farm lies just to the west of London at Maple Cross in Hertfordshire. It extends over 300 acres and includes arable and pastureland, as well as around 75 acres of semi-natural woodland.

The farm was donated to the Soil Association Land Trust to ensure it will be farmed sustainably into the future, with a focus on producing good food, improving wildlife, and continuing to welcome people onto the land.

Natural Asset Partners is collaborating with Woodoaks Farm to develop a green finance strategy that blends private investment with public funding to support the farm’s transition toward sustainable agriculture and conservation. By structuring a finance strategy that aligns with the farm’s environmental objectives and identifying opportunities for natural capital investment, including carbon and biodiversity markets, the project is helping the Soil Association Land Trust achieve its long-term vision for nature-friendly farming.

The initiative is commencing with an ambitious BNG offsetting schemes, creating lowland meadows, scrub habitats that transition into woodland, and orchards that overtime will be enjoyed by the many guests of the site. Woodoaks position means it is idea to service the large demand of development in the area, requiring BNG units.

In partnership with Farmer Wilder and the Apricot Centre, Natural Asset Partners led an innovative project exploring how Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) schemes can align with regenerative meat production.

The initiative supports small farms in the South West in transitioning to environmentally sustainable and commercially viable food production.

The project explored how BNG schemes can be designed and integrated into farming working with five case study farms. It assessed the financial, legal, and practical implications of BNG, comparing it with Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) to help ensure farmers make informed decisions. Workshops with farmers and advisors provided guidance on long-term commitments, how stocking densities would need to be amended and how the target habitats could be achieved.

It further addressed the tax impacts, market opportunities and inheritance implications. Through this approach, the project serves as a blueprint for scaling biodiversity-friendly livestock production while ensuring financial sustainability for farmers.

Hill Farm, Watergall is a family-run mixed farm located near Southam in Warwickshire. Farmed by the Warner family for three generations and now going into its fourth, priorities for Hill Farm are environmental stewardship; healthy and happy livestock; improving soil health; and a resilient, robust business model that supports multiple generations. Mark and Emily Warner have championed grass-based systems to produce sustainable and nutrient-dense lamb and beef, using rotational grazing that encompasses long rest periods of land allowing it to recover fully to express natural processes wherever possible.

Emily and Mark partnered with Natural Asset Partners to design and implement a Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) scheme. The project focuses on enhancing grassland, creating scrub, traditional orchards and bringing back historic hedgerows. The scheme design will help improve water quality of the river, while also allowing the integration of mob grazing practices so to support both biodiversity and grazing productivity.

At the heart of this project is combining BNG with farming, with the project supplementing Emily’s Nuffield Scholar research into: “The mob-grazed flerd: improving soil, biodiversity and farm incomes”

Shillingford Organics is a farm located near Exeter, Devon, dedicated to growing seasonal, organic vegetables, salads, herbs, and fruits. They offer a veg box delivery service to the local community, providing freshly harvested produce free from harmful pesticides and chemicals. Martyn Bragg is working with Natural Asset Partners to implement a BNG scheme with a key focus of the project centred around river restoration, to generate highly sought-after watercourse units.

In addition to farming, Shillingford Organics runs a Farm School, offering educational sessions for children and adults. Natural Asset Partners are helping Martyn and team at Shillingford Organics to improve the onsite educational facilities and better support school and university visitors. By expanding its educational offerings, the farm aims to engage more people with sustainable farming practices and conservation efforts.

This work has seen the blending of private finance from BNG with public funding sources, such as Countryside Stewardship (Higher Tier) grants, resulting in a most effective and appropriate business case for the farm. This financing approach ensures farm sustainability while maximising both short-term and long-term environmental and social benefits.

The Langley Abbey Environment Project (LEAP) is a developer-funded nature reserve spanning over 600 acres across South Norfolk and The Broads. This ambitious project is restoring a mosaic of habitats, including wildflower meadows, lowland fens, traditional orchards, wet woodlands, ponds, reedbeds, mixed scrub, and hedgerows.

At 250 hectares and located directly opposite the RSPB-managed, 800-hectare Mid Yare National Nature Reserve, LAEP truly embodies the Lawton principles of bigger, better, and more joined-up nature conservation.

Natural Asset Partners supported in the early days of the projects inception, and continues to provide independent ecological expertise, in the form of habitat monitoring, development of management plans, and tracking the ecological success of the project.