Additional support to help farmers access private investment to support nature recovery on their farms has been announced at the first-ever ‘Nature for Finance’ event.
It brought together farmers, land managers, investors and conservation experts to identify new investment opportunities that drive forward actions to mobilise investment in nature recovery while continuing to keep the nation fed.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Thérèse Coffey says there’s to be an additional round of the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund later this year to help farmers address barriers to accessing private investment to help nature’s recovery.
This will be the first time the NEIRF focuses specifically on the farming sector, helping farmers to come together at a landscape scale to combine their offer to investors, and enabling more types of farmer to access and benefit from nature markets.
Thérèse Coffey said:”Food production and enhancing the environment go hand in hand. We must continue to support farmers to keep our nation fed while also safeguarding the valuable biodiversity and landscapes we rely on. This event is an important step forward in bringing together farmers and financiers to invest in nature and unlock new opportunities to improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of farm businesses.”
Food production relies on a healthy and thriving natural environment and nature markets offer a new way for farmers to generate income alongside food production. To date, 86 projects across England have received development grants of up to £100,000 through two competitive rounds of the £10 million NEIRF in 2021 and 2022.
The NEIRF funds projects that have the potential to produce revenue from the benefits nature provides to attract and repay investment, as well as projects able to produce an investment model that can be scaled up and reproduced.
