Farming Futures

The Farming Futures programme aims to influence and shape the debate about the transition towards a more sustainable, equitable and resilient future for farming in the UK.

We convene industry leaders and leading thinkers, shine a light on what’s blocking change and where the solutions lie, and root the public and political conversation about agriculture in the perspective of farmers, citizens and communities.

Explore our key reports on farming in the carousel on the right hand side – and scroll down to find out more about our full programme of work.

Go to all our latest reports

Key reports

Our work

Farmers can be a force for change, as we work together to build a healthier, fairer and more resilient food system and face the crises of climate and nature.

Research

In 2025, we published 'Paying the Price: Cheap food, big business and the cost to farming and food security' which reveals where money and power lie in the farming system – and offers a new perspective on the wave of farming protests recently seen in the UK.

We have also published three key reports that make the case that the transition to agroecology is economically and agronomically plausible.

Farming Smarter: the case for agroecological enterprise
Farming for Change: mapping a route to 2030
Farming Smarter: investing in the future

Farming Leadership Symposia

Our Farming Leadership Group, a forum for senior figures from food, farming and environmental organisations and businesses, has a run a series of symposia on tackling agriculture’s most intractable issues.

To date, the series has focused on:

Finding the Finance For Growth
Creating Fair & Equitable Supply Chains
From Food Security to Food Resilience
The Economics of Fairer Food & Farming

Farming APPG

In 2025, FFCC was appointed as secretariat for All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Farming, chaired by Terry Jermy MP and Rachel Gilmour MP. We’re aiming to bring a diverse range of perspectives on farming and the countryside to politicians. We started by bringing the voices of young farmers to APPG members, with a wide-ranging discussion on education and skills, new entrants, profitability, public support schemes and grants, the challenge of climate change, tenancies, and much more.

Podcast: We Need To Talk About Farming

We Need to Talk About Farming is a new spin-off series from Will Evans – creator of the Rock n Roll Farming podcast – and FFCC.

There's a lot of noise in farming right now and for many, the future feels uncertain. This series brings balanced and thoughtful voices together to have better conversations about the biggest issues facing agriculture. In each episode, we'll take on a topic that's making headlines and dividing WhatsApp groups. We'll go beyond the buzzwords, cut through the cliches, and work out what really matters.

Start listening

Farming Voices

From climate and nature to health and community, farming connects to the things people care about. At the same time, farming in the UK is at a crossroads – with a healthy food and farming future in the balance.

Our #FarmingVoices series asks farmers what they really think, the challenges they face and the solutions at hand.

Watch the films

What do farmers really think?

In the first film, Harriet Bell, Patrick Holden, Helen Browning, Gavin Lane, Nic Renison, David Hill, Debbie Wilkins and John Cherry tell us more about the work they do – and why farming is often about so much more than producing food.

Watch all our films here

Policy asks of government

This coherent set of proposals reflects our work engaging with farmers on the ground, talking to experts and leaders in our Farming Leadership Symposia series, and curating the evidence though our reports and briefings.

Align and

enhance ELMS

to help majority of farms transition towards more sustainable, regenerative practices
Tougher regulation to ensure

high standards & fair dealing

between retailers, intermediaries and farmers (including wider remit for Groceries Code Adjudicator)
Implement a

coherent trade policy

ensuring high environmental, animal health and welfare standards on imports
Develop an ambitious

horticultural strategy

connecting expanded production, consumption, and public health

The case for agroecology

Agroecology is a growing movement including farmers and food producers who are using fair and sustainable regenerative practices. But it is more than a way of farming - it is a way of describing a healthy food system with huge potential to tackle climate change, regenerate landscapes and restore nature. Scroll down to find out more about FFCC research and evidence for how agroecology works and learn about the farmers, communities, businesses and organisations helping lead a transition to agroecology by 2030.

Explore our Agroecology hub for more.

“There is a growing consensus that agroecology… is the optimal route for the majority of our land. That momentum and endorsement is evidenced by great reports from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission”

Helen Browning OBE Soil Association and FFCC Commissioner