On February 26th CFE hosted representatives of its partners and supporters and member of the farming and conservation communities to mark its relaunch, 10 years after inception, as Championing the Farmed Environment.
The event included presentations by a panel formed of speakers from organisations involved with CFE, including NFU Deputy President Guy Smith and GWCT’s Jim Egan.
The audience also heard from Merseyside farmer Olly Harrison on his work to support wildlife on his farm and Kirsty Brannan - Farm Conservation & Woodland Advisor with Oakbank Game & Conservation Ltd – on the value of CFE in supporting farmers to adopt farm management which works for both the environment and their businesses. *
Presentations were followed by a drinks reception and lively discussion around the opportunities and challenges of environmental management within productive farm businesses.
As a unique partnership of organisations which support sustainable farming practices, CFE plays a key role in promoting partnership-working between groups who have common ground in this area.
Commenting on the future of CFE, project officer Laura Harpham said:
“The next stage of CFE offers a great opportunity to strengthen and build on the partnerships it has forged over the last 10 years. There are many groups promoting and championing good environmental farm management and the CFE partnership is a fantastic tool for making this support and guidance as accessible and applicable to farmers as possible.
The first step in the roll-out of new CFE resources is the new website, and I’d welcome any feedback from users; I’m always eager to improve the tools to suit the people they’re designed for.”
The national relaunch will be followed by regional events across England, details of which will be soon be available in the Events section of the website shortly.
If you are interested in learning more about CFE, please get in touch through the Contact Us page. You can also follow CFE on Twitter - @CFEonline.
*Full panel details:
Chair: Rob York - Rural commentator and broadcaster
Guy Smith – Deputy President, National Farmers’ Union
Olly Harrison – Merseyside Farmer and 2016 Defra Pollinator Champion
Ed Brown – Agronomist, Hutchinsons
Kirsty Brannan - Farm Conservation & Woodland Advisor, Oakbank Game & Conservation Ltd
Jim Egan – Head of Training and Development at the Allerton Farm Project, Game & Wildlife Conservation
Mark Tufnell - Vice President, Country Land and Business Association Ltd