LENs (Landscape Enterprise Networks) brings together businesses, public bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), farmers and land managers, to finance and implement initiatives to improve the health and resilience of landscapes they all rely on. It’s been going since 2021 and is active in seven regions: East of England, Yorkshire, Leven (Scotland), West Wales, Western Hungary, Northern Italy and Western Poland.
LENs helps to finance the transition from conventional to regenerative agriculture; the funding helps to manage the financial risk involved.
LENs works with farmers to implement practices that will improve the resilience and health of a landscape. The range of interventions and where they are implemented are tailored to each geography. Each farm business proposes those that will work for them.
LENs works on an annual ‘trade cycle’, identifying measures at the start of the year that will be implemented during the following harvest. LENs has facilitated more than EUR 30m of funding direct to farmers and land enterprises. The funding supports farmers to introduce or extend regenerative farming measures that tackle common land management needs, such as: mitigating flood risk; improving soil health; reducing carbon emissions; increasing biodiversity; and improving water quality.
Specific financing for RegenAg practices, paid on verification or upfront if relating to machinery or infrastructure.
Choose the practices that suit your farm, with 1-10 year contracts depending on the measures and landscape.
Receive sustainability insights across key metrics, including soil health, biodiversity, water quality and climate mitigation.
Access agronomy training and workshops with opportunities to learn from other farmers.
Leading regenerative farms may be eligible for “resilience payments”, a bonus that rewards their contribution towards creating systemic change.
LENs supports farmers at all stages of regenerative agriculture. If you’re keen to take the first steps towards a more regenerative agricultural system, LENs funding could get you started. And if you’re well advanced in your approach to regenerative agriculture, LENs can support your ambitions and enable you to share your learnings with other farmers.
Stewart, Clare, Michael and Tom and their team are farmers near Doncaster, farming around 800 hectares of mixed arable, grass and sheep. They participated in LENs in 2024 and have benefitted from two years of multiple measures.
“We did a few regenerative things on the farm before we joined LENs,” says Michael. “But being part of the programme has focused our minds and we’re really beginning to see the benefits. For example, direct drilling a field next to one that wasn’t and the difference is very noticeable. The soil structure after direct drilling is far superior – you don’t get mud on your boots from it on a wet day like you do from the one next to it. We see many more birds foraging on the direct drilled area, which shows that there must be more invertebrates for them to feed off.”
Read the full interview here.
Doug and Pam Dear have managed their 1600-acre farm near Selby for generations, focusing on cattle finishing and a diverse crop rotation. As pilot members of LENs Yorkshire, they have used the initiative to scale up regenerative practices that fit their specific landscape. Key shifts include a significant expansion of livestock into the arable rotation, the transition of poor cereal land and the adoption of foliar-applied fertilisers to reduce chemical inputs.
For Doug, the value of LENs lies in risk-sharing and radical collaboration. “It takes the financial risk out of trying something new,” he explains. Beyond the funding, the program has fostered a local network of farmers who share “open book” advice. By hosting demo days for funders like Nestlé, Doug bridges the gap between corporate supply chains and the unpredictable realities of farming.
Read the full interview here.
Philip Raley has been a farmer for 37 years and has a tenanted farm near York. He was one of the first Yorkshire farmers to be involved in LENs and saw it as a chance to ‘dip his toe in’ to regenerative agriculture. LENs funding has enabled him to introduce: cover crops, reduced fertiliser, integrated organic manure, minimal cultivation techniques, bio-stimulants to manage plant health; and biological nitrogen fixation.
His view of LENs is that: “right from the start, it appeared to be more farmer-led than any other funding initiative I’d come across – I bid for what we want to introduce rather than having a prescribed list. It’s more interesting than ticking a box and filling in a form. Farmers need to be interested to be motivated, and LENs involves us in deciding what’s best for the individual farm.”
Read the full interview here.
There are four steps for farmers:
Andy Falkingham has been farming his whole life. In the 2024 LENs trade, he received funding from Diageo, Nestlé and PepsiCo for a variety of practices including cover crops, planting wild bird seed mixes, catch crops, subsoiling, companion cropping and two innovation trials – establishing cover crops using a drone, and yield monitoring on combine.
He says: “LENs offers funding that wasn’t available under the Sustainable Farming Incentive for innovations. Trying out new things comes with a big financial risk that most farmers can’t afford. LENs means that we can experiment with a new machine or method that just wouldn’t be a viable risk otherwise.”
Read our interview with Andy here.
What does LENs fund?
LENs funds a range of regenerative agriculture practices. The most popular in 2024 were: reduced/no tillage, to minimise soil disturbance; reduced use of synthetic inputs, including fertilisers, herbicides and pesticides; planting and managing hedgerows; and keeping soils covered/living roots in the soil.
Innovation funding can be used for practices which are not pre-defined, such as trials relevant to a farm business or capital and in-field investments, which last year included direct drills, low disturbance subsoilers and yield monitoring on combine.
In 2024, farmers received between £150-300 per hectare on average for measures implemented.
Am I eligible?
You need to have an existing relationship or be willing to establish a relationship with one of the companies who engage with our network of farmers within each region*. You’ll need to be able to implement actions that are of interest to funders, and that result in the outcomes they are looking for (such as GHG emission reductions, improved water quality or natural flood management).
Are there any eligibility restrictions based on size of farm holding?
No, currently there is no minimum or maximum size.
How do I apply?
If you already work with one of the companies who manage our network of farmers in each region, you can speak to them and apply*. If not, then please use the contact form to get in touch.
*Supply Aggregators currently active in the East of England are Cetefra UK, Chilton Grain, Frontier Agriculture and Openfield Agriculture. In Yorkshire, Frontier Agriculture and Openfield Agriculture are active. In Leven (Scotland) they are Frontier Agriculture and GrainCo.
Will I be audited?
Yes, you will be visited by a third-party provider once a year to assess the impact of the changes you are making on the farm. The results of this assessment will be shared with you and at an aggregated level with funders.
What results will I get about my farm?
The sustainability results provided in your Farm Report will include things like:
You can use these results to compare yourself to other farms in the region, help make business decisions and use this data to apply for additional schemes and funding.
How and when will I be paid?
Typically, after submitting evidence of your investment/practice, you will receive a payment. The timing depends on the details of your contracts, but is around 20 days. Each set of payment evidence is verified by your local LENs Operator and the relevant Funders, but may also be audited by LENs.
The evidence required for each measure varies, and is set out in both the Technical Guidance for each Trade year, and clearly stated in your contracts too.
Who provides the funding?
The range of funders is determined by a region’s key crops and supply chains. Global food and drink companies are the main funders, including Diageo, Cereal Partners UK, Nestlé Purina, and PepsiCo. We also receive increasing investment from non-supply chain funders including water companies and local councils, who are interested in reducing the vulnerability of landscapes and their costs of operation.
How does it fit with state support?
LENs sets out to complement whatever government support there is to farming in your region. Accessing LENs funding does not prevent you from receiving public funding, but you cannot be paid twice to deliver the same thing.
If you’re not already in touch with our supply aggregators and want to find out more about LENs, please email the team at lens@3keel.com or use the contact form here.
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