Lloyds Banking Group has teamed up with regenerative food and farming business Wildfarmed to launch the Food & Nature Resilience Fund, which aims to accelerate the transition of farmland to regenerative agriculture by making it commercially viable for farmers.
Initial investors in the fund include banks, utility companies, insurers and food businesses including Severn Trent, Affinity Water and AXA. Further partners are set to be announced.
The investment is pooled to reward farmers for delivering improvements across biodiversity, soil health, water quality and carbon, without taking any land away from food production.
The fund is designed to make the transition to regenerative practices commercially viable for farmers, with around 92% of farmers currently citing financial barriers as the primary obstacle to change.
Ben Makowiecki, agriculture sustainability director at Lloyds, said: “As the UK’s largest agricultural lender, we have a responsibility to support farmers during this transition.
“By bringing together businesses with a stake in resilient farming, healthy soils, clean water and thriving natural ecosystems, this fund can help set in motion the pace of change needed to scale regenerative agriculture across the UK while creating a more reliable financial model for farmers.”
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