LENS Appoints Ceres Rural to Lead Farmer Training Programme in England

LENs is introducing a farmer training programme for the East of England and Yorkshire. The development is part of its commitment to provide more support for farmers participating LENs.

Following a competitive tender, LENs appointed Ceres Rural, an experience-led farming consultancy, to develop and deliver training and support materials, designed to equip farmers with a deep level of technical expertise in regenerative practices. Up to 120 farmers across these two regions will benefit from a programme that covers:

• Building soil and farm system health – foundations of soil health and function; increasing soil cover and maximising diversity; minimising soil disturbance; livestock integration and building organic matter.
• Natural capital and environmental stewardship – integrated pest management for regenerative systems; reducing synthetic fertilisers; water quality protection and catchment-sensitive farming; biodiversity.
• The business case for regenerative agriculture – regenerative profitability and input reduction strategies; stewardship, SFI and grant funding opportunities; whole-farm regenerative strategy and transition planning.

The training will be interactive, with a focus on being on farm, with some webinars to supplement these sessions. Farmers will learn by doing, sharing experiences, and applying new ideas directly to their own systems.

Ceres Rural will also create an online hub so farmers can access training materials. The technical information will be translated into clear, practical, and actionable guidance, supported by real world case studies that illustrate successful regenerative transitions.

A pilot programme will run alongside the training. Ceres Rural will work with three farms in each region to provide a detailed transition plan. If the pilot is successful, LENs hopes to secure funding to offer the transition planning to all its farmers in England.

Chantal Brown, LENs Farm Advisor, said: “As LENs matures and scales, being able to provide more support to our farmers is critical. If we want resilient landscapes that serve everyone, including nature, we must support farmers to invest time and effort, by helping them build knowledge, develop new technical expertise and reduce their risk.”

“Ceres Rural impressed us with their passion, experience and expertise. We’re looking forward to seeing the training in action and the difference it can make to LENs farmers in England.”

Tim Isaac, Partner at Ceres Rural expressed optimism for this new element of the LENs programme, saying: “We’re delighted to be working with LENs on this important next phase of support for farmers. Regenerative agriculture is as much about knowledge, confidence and decision-making as it is about practice on the ground, and this programme is designed to give farmers practical, evidence-based information they can apply immediately within their own businesses. By combining on-farm learning, technical training and tailored transition planning, we hope to help farmers reduce risk, build resilience and make regenerative systems work both environmentally and commercially.”

The new training programme will be delivered from May to December 2026, with evaluation and reporting in January-February 2027.

In Europe, planning is underway to deliver regenerative transition plans to all LENs farmers in Hungary and Poland this year, alongside offering three trials in each country and four training events.