The Royal Countryside Fund launches sustainability programme with leading businesses to support farmers in the East of England
March 28, 2025
Routes to Regen is an innovative farm pilot, managed by The Royal Countryside Fund and sponsored by members of the Sustainable Markets Initiative to show that regenerative farming can be a practical and rewarding option for farmers.
The pilot will launch in April 2025 and take place in the East of England throughout the year, bringing together leading food and finance businesses to support farmers in adopting more sustainable practices. Arable and mixed farmers in the region are encouraged to join this free programme, which simplifies the often complex landscape of sustainability by providing a whole-farm approach tailored to their needs.
Farmers will have access to a carefully curated menu of resources and opportunities, provided by participating businesses, including McCain Foods, McDonald’s, Lloyds Banking Group, Waitrose & Partners, NatWest, Barclays, Aon, Tokio Marine Kiln and Lloyd’s. The project will be programme-managed by The Royal Countryside Fund, with on-farm advice from Ceres Rural and will provide participating farmers with a ‘menu’ of support such as:
- Routes to premiums available for sustainably grown crops
- Discounts on cover crop, pollinator and specialist seed
- Opportunities to integrate livestock and organic matter into your system
- Demonstration days and knowledge-sharing events
- Support to begin collecting environmental data
Contributors to the menu also include ADM, British Sugar, Burgess Farms, Cranswick plc, Farm Carbon Toolkit, Frontier Agriculture, LENs, Muntons, North Farm Livestock, Soil Association Exchange, the Sustainable Food Trust and Wildfarmed. By taking a collaborative, whole-farm approach, the programme aims to reduce risk and complexity for the farmer to help make regenerative agriculture more achievable.
Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Royal Countryside Fund said, “At The Royal Countryside Fund, we know that farming in a sustainable way can often feel overwhelming for busy farmers who are facing relentless social, environmental and economic challenges. This new programme, Routes to Regen, was created with them in mind, making regenerative farming practices feel more achievable by bringing together resources and rewards from industry-leading businesses into one, easy-to-access package, which will be discussed on farm. We look forward to managing its implementation.”
Tim Isaac, Partner at Ceres Rural said, “We are delighted to be working on such an innovative and collaborative project. Our primary focus at Ceres Rural is to help farmers develop more sustainable and resilient businesses with a whole farm approach which fits perfectly with the ethos of this project. We are very much looking forward to working with The Royal Countryside Fund and all the project partners to provide the solid system of support and on-farm advice that is so needed in the sector at this time.”
James Young, Vice President, Agriculture, McCain Foods GB said, “At McCain, we believe that regenerative agriculture is critical to protecting the long-term viability of British agriculture and the UK’s food security. We have committed to ensuring these practices are implemented across all our potato acreage by 2030, but we know a collaborative, whole-farm approach is key in driving wider change. Through the collaboration of all SMI members, the Routes to Regen pilot aims to ensure access to regenerative agriculture practices is both simple and viable for farmers, and we are proud to play our role to achieve and inspire scale through partnership.”
To sign up to the free Routes to Regen pilot, or to find out more, click here.
