Why farmers change: Ideas from soil management shifts around the world

This report explores how to drive the adoption of better farm practices, particularly focusing on soil management. Over the past 18 months, I have travelled 6,616 miles across Europe, Australia and South America to learn from farmers, advisors, researchers and policymakers what drives changes in farmer behaviour.

I began my travels assuming better knowledge sharing was the key. But I’ve come to believe that change (to any farm practice) depends on three key steps:

1. Motivate: The first and most important step is giving farmers a reason to care — the motivation to embrace change, with all the learning and disruption that involves. Across my travels, six common motivators stood out:

• External crisis — drought or price shocks forcing change
• Personal crisis — succession or health issues prompting re-evaluation
• Charismatic educators — who spark curiosity and mindset shifts
• Community — being part of an engaged sub-sector of the industry, often facing external criticism
• Benchmarking — seeing what others are doing better and wanting to catch up
• ‘Grazing for Profit’ — an immersive course helping farmers step back and rethink their business from the ground up

2. Advise: Once motivated, farmers need help knowing what to do. The closest thing to a silver-bullet I saw were well-run farmer groups. The report covers many funding routes. Effective ones let farmers’ priorities lead (not funder goals), and trust facilitators to deliver without burdensome bureaucracy. Facilitator quality and capacity is the biggest determinant of success – funders, don’t penny pinch! Groups should be connected nationally. Farm advisors also have a critical role – the future of agronomy lies in providing holistic advice, not just recommending inputs.

3. Fund: Soil-friendly practices often cut costs in the long run — but they can carry upfront risk. England’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is a world-leading scheme, with high uptake driven by flexibility and credible payments. It should be refined, not overhauled. Water companies offer the readiest source of private funding, while carbon markets remain immature. Landlords should support soil improvements on the one-third of English farmland that is rented through preferential tenancy agreements.

Monitoring change reinforces these three steps:

• it motivates by showing progress and enabling benchmarking.
• it unlocks learning and knowledge of what works on a particular farm.
• it can shape future government funding schemes, plus supports credits.

In every climate and soil type I visited, pioneering farmers have already shown what good soil management looks like. I hope this report can contribute towards building a system that supports many more to follow their lead.