How a national crisis of family-owned farms presents an opportunity for a new generation of community owners in the South West.

Across the UK around 120,000 family-owned businesses are planning to retire or transfer ownership over the next few years (ONS), but two-thirds of these owners still do not have a succession plan.

With a strong tradition of farming, the South West is in line with this national data, and with commercial and policy pressure on UK land use and food production at an unprecedented level, there is a significant threat to current land use, which is already undermining local and national food resilience through pushing our economy towards higher imports and lower employment.

New Models for Family Farm Succession, a new project from a consortium led by Stir to Action, an organisation based in West Dorset, and Shared Assets, will tackle this by working with family farm owners and community food initiatives in the South West and beyond to explore how family farmland can be part of long-term efforts to create more food security in the UK, through selling or transferring to local co-operatives.

The pilot will support a new approach to succession planning by focusing on the social, cultural, and financial considerations for both family farmers and community food initiatives through a series of workshops, options reports, and new financial models for land transfer.

The pilot is an effort to transform the current financial marketplace and build more cultural awareness within the family farm market, and to also follow pioneers such as Fordhall in Shropshire and Stockwood in Worcestershire, where family farmland has been saved through thousands of community investors.

The value of family farms is clear within our national and local economies and food supply, and this project will focus on ensuring financial security for retiring farmers and long-term access to farm land for community food initiatives.

With a new rush to acquire land for non-farming initiatives – such as carbon offsetting and private rewilding – this pilot will support the farming community to secure a future for food production in the UK.

Olivia Oldham, of project funder Farming the Future, said: "It is increasingly clear that land is at the heart of the crises we face—from industrial food production and environmental degradation, to social injustice and even ill-health and wellbeing. But, if we can collectively reimagine our relationship with it, land can also be the solution.

"This project is an exciting exploration of what the future of our rural landscape might look like, and practical mechanisms for getting there that take care of retiring family farmers and provide new opportunities for communities to access farmland for the common good."

The consortium is looking to engage family farmers in West Dorset, East Devon, and South Somerset, so if you're a family farm owner and interested in finding out about the pilot, contact [email protected] to make enquiries and to hear more about the project.