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2025 was a busy year for the (SFN) programme – and 2026 looks set to be busy too!

In this guest blog, SFN Project Manager looks back at the year – and we hear from SFN members from across the British Isles about their work.

Over 2025, (SFN) increased in reach and diversity, and now includes 37 demonstration farm networks.

We were also mentioned in Recommendation 11 of Baroness Batters’ December 2025 for Defra, reflecting the importance of this approach  - in economic, as well as environmental and social sustainability.

A new that shows the approximate location of member networks’ network members paints a striking picture of how farm demonstration spans the UK farming landscape through the SFN - not just in sector, scale and scope - but also in geography.

Five case studies of individuals working at the extremes of this map, trying out progressive approaches and sharing their findings, show how widespread the positive peer-to-peer approach to developing and implementing real world sustainability solutions is.

For more information on individual networks:

• filter to your area of interest
• zoom in on a postal district
• follow the organisational web links found in the data table

For more information - or to put your demo farm network on the map - contact: LBates@harper-adams.ac.uk 

Southernmost:

The Jersey Royal Company, Jersey- Linking Environment And Farming Demonstration Farm Network

The Jersey Royal Company Ltd - Jersey’s largest farm and a since 2020 - is a great example of how much stronger we are when farms learn from one another.

Working across more than 1,800 hectares and hundreds of small fields, the team has had to become highly adaptable, constantly testing and refining their approach to soil health, nutrition, cover crops and biofumigation. What sets them apart is how openly they share what works  -and what doesn’t - with others on the island.

Their long-standing rotation partnerships with local dairy farms are a brilliant illustration of this. By swapping land and coordinating cropping, both sides improve soil structure, reduce pest pressure and build more resilient systems.

It’s practical collaboration that benefits everyone, and it has helped create a genuinely supportive learning culture across Jersey agriculture. The farm’s annual Cover Crop Competition takes this even further, encouraging farmers to experiment, compare notes, and celebrate what they’re achieving together.

The Jersey Royal Company brings a distinctive island perspective: large-scale production working hand-in-hand with community learning. Their experience shows that progress in sustainable farming comes faster - and sticks for longer - when farms share insights and move forward together.

Takeaway: Large-scale production paired with open collaboration accelerates adoption of proven practices and embeds a supportive learning culture.

Westernmost Mainland:

Alex Pritchard, Escalwen Farm, Pembrokeshire- Farming Connect Our Farms Network

Escalwen farm in Pembrokeshire is a 600-cow pasture-based spring calving dairy herd with a history of high morbidity and mortality in neonatal calves in recent years; the five-year average for morbidity from 2018-2022 was 45 per cent with mortality peaking at 19 per cent in 2022.

Farmer Alex Pritchard participated in the  Feeding enriched pasteurised transition milk to calves trial in 2023.

The basis of the trial was to test and feed pooled, pasteurised transition milk to calves for the first 10 days of life in order to reduce morbidity and mortality of neonatal diarrhoea and reduce the need for antibiotic treatments.

This was the first trial of its kind in a large-scale block-calving herd.

The trial results highlighted:

• Bulk pasteurisation proved a success and offered a suitable alternative to the labour-intensive process of using individual bags of bovine colostrum
• Transition milk contains a higher proportion of protein and fat than whole milk, and as such provides additional nutritional benefits
• Mortality resulting from NCD reduced from an average of 9.5 per cent in the three years to 2023 to 3 per cent in 2023 and 2024
• There was an overall reduction in antibiotic use but most notably a cessation in use of HPCIA’s.
• Calves fed higher quality transition milk had increased liveweight gain.

Peer reviewed results of the trial, published in the Journal of Dairy Science, can be read

Takeaway: A practical, scalable intervention can significantly improve calf health, reduce antibiotics, and strengthen herd performance.

Easternmost:

Tom McVeigh, Kenton Hall Farm, Suffolk- Climate Farm Demo network        

Kenton Hall is a 179ha mixed farm in Suffolk.

It’s predominantly arable, including agroforestry with a small suckler herd. Tom is exploring options for producing profitable walnut and hazelnut crops from the agroforestry system and incorporates a range of habitats into the farm such as beetle banks and pollen and nectar mixes.

Tom signed up for as he was becoming increasingly aware of the siloed nature of farming, and felt that a lack of collaboration was constraining innovation in the sector. He wanted to join the project for the network and the ideas that would emerge as a result, believing that it is the responsibility of all farms to participate in something wider than their own businesses.

The learnings from Climate Farm Demo have been useful for Tom so far, mainly in exploring the details and quirks of carbon markets. Being able to apply this new knowledge to the carbon audit created for Kenton Hall has given more insight and relevance to data provided by the range of benchmarking software available.

Looking forward, Tom would like to use his carbon audit to see where he can make cost savings in his business, as generally carbon emissions relate directly to expenses.

As we are seeing increasingly variable weather patterns, wheat prices and policy, Tom hopes that data from the audit will enable him to see where he can make both carbon and cost savings to create a profitable, resilient business, and share this experience with others. 

Takeaway: Robust carbon auditing linked to collaboration can clarify cost-effective routes to lower emissions and greater resilience.

Westernmost:

Stephen McGuire, Co. Fermanagh- AgriSearch Beacon Farm Network

, a farmer-funded levy organisation, delivers applied research and knowledge exchange to support profitable and sustainable farming in Northern Ireland.

Its Beacon Farm Network brings together progressive commercial farms that work alongside researchers and industry partners to test innovations on real farms, generate robust local evidence, and share learning through farm walks, events and digital platforms. The aim is to accelerate the uptake of proven practices by demonstrating what works under local conditions.

One of the flagship Beacon sub-projects is , delivered in partnership with AFBI. Interest in ZeroNsile was initially driven by the sharp rise in fertiliser prices in 2021, which exposed the vulnerability of high-input silage systems.

The project also addresses the need to reduce overall farm carbon footprint, by lowering reliance on manufactured nitrogen, reducing dependence on imported high-protein concentrates, and improving animal performance through reduced days to slaughter.

ZeroNsile aims to determine whether farms can consistently produce high yields of high-quality silage with little or no manufactured nitrogen, using long-term red clover/grass (and, where suitable, lucerne) swards. The project measures yield and silage quality across different systems while developing practical guidance on establishment, cutting management, and the critical roles of P, K, sulphur and lime.

A standout example is Stephen Maguire, a beef farmer in County Fermanagh.

Farming 32 hectares, Stephen runs a blade calves-to-beef system, carrying around 160–200 cattle at any one time.

As one of the furthest west farms in the project, located in a high-rainfall area, his results are particularly significant, given initial doubts about red clover performance in these conditions. Using slurry alone and no chemical nitrogen, Stephen produced almost 14 t DM/ha - the highest yield in the project this year, highlighting the potential of home-grown protein to reduce inputs and improve sustainability across Northern Ireland.

Takeaway: Well-managed legume-rich swards can deliver high-quality silage and reduce dependence on manufactured N, even under challenging local conditions.

Northernmost:

Stewart and Gareth Wood, Garson Farm, Orkney - ABP PRISM 2030 Network

Since the launch in November 2022, more than 350 UK farms have been working with ABP to monitor and share how changes in farm practice impact their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The aim of the programme is to explore what is practical and replicable across different farm systems to make the red meat supply chain more sustainable and aims to optimise resource use, leading to improved production, margins and resilience.

Living and farming eight miles off the North of Scotland across the Pentland Firth on Orkney was one of the reasons the father and son team Stewart and Gareth Woods decided to join PRISM 2030, to see if their production methods are comparable to farmers on the mainland.

On 520 owned and 90 rented acres, the island farm carries around 150 suckler cows and 350 ewes including several heritage and pedigree breeds, with 80 acres of arable and 15 of forage crops for home use.

Stewart describes farming as: "A way to stay connected to nature and the rhythm of life, turning hard work into something tangible and meaningful. There’s a joy in nurturing crops and animals, in feeding communities, and in facing challenges with creativity and patience."

Pleasingly, the GHG audit conducted early in the programme showed the farm to be well below average for emissions.

Three key recommendations the Woods were given by research partners at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ were to increase rotational grazing, reduce tillage and make more use of herbal leys and red clover.

As a result, they have:

• Purchased a grass rejuvenator this past season and reseeded a field, which seems to have worked well so will be increasing the use of this next season.
• Done a bit of rotational grazing and will likely increase this again as it has allowed for more sheep this past season.
• Increased forage crops as they are a wonderful way of finishing lambs.

By collectively understanding where emissions come from, both individual farms and the wider industry can target improvements that not only support global climate goals but also increase efficiency and reduce costs, helping to build consumer trust and protect the industry’s reputation of producing a healthy and sustainable product.

Takeaway: Data?led management, targeted grazing, and diverse swards can lower emissions while improving productivity and resilience—even in remote island contexts.