Alternative land uses can benefit farm businesses in multiple ways, boosting both profits and the environment. Options range from paludiculture (wetland crops) and peat restoration to habitat creation and agroforestry, offering farmers innovative solutions to diversify income streams, enhance environmental sustainability, and adapt to evolving challenges in land management. And the Cereals Event will have plenty of practical advice on offer this year.
Held at Heath Farm, Lincolnshire, on 11–12 June 2025, Cereals will feature an extensive catalogue of exhibitors showcasing cutting-edge practices in alternative land use. Visitors can engage with industry experts and gather information on how these approaches are evolving, with valuable opportunities for networking and knowledge sharing.
Agroforestry is the deliberate integration of trees and shrubs into farming systems to create environmental, economic, and social benefits. The Soil Association Exchange will be delving into this topic on its stand at this year’s Cereals Event.
William Leabeater, head of communication at the Soil Association Exchange, says: “With increasing financial support for woodland creation and management, many farmers are considering tree planting as a viable land use change. This trend is particularly noticeable in upland regions, where woodland creation enhances biodiversity, mitigates flooding, and offers long-term revenue opportunities.”
Effects of SFI changes
Alternative land uses have been encouraged by the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) but following its sudden closure many farmers are now exploring alternative land uses to generate new income streams.
“When considering land use changes, it’s essential to prioritise what adds the most value and resilience to your business,” says Mr Leabeater. “Focus on decisions that strengthen and diversify your operation and then explore how available subsidies or financial support can complement these choices — rather than letting subsidies dictate your direction.”
Markets for biodiversity net gain (BNG) and carbon credits have developed rapidly in recent years, enabling farmers to be paid for specific habitat management. “We have people identifying land for BNG, and it is an emerging market,” says Edward Hutley, partner at Ceres Rural. “But these are long-term arrangements of 30 years, so do carry risk.”
Angus Collet, director at the BNG partnership, adds: “We’ve been really pleased with the uplift in activity around biodiversity net gain, and the amount of registered habitat banks that are already on the Defra register. It shows that landowners see BNG as an opportunity to diversify and are willing to enter into a longer-term scheme than they are used to.”
Carbon trading has mostly developed through privately-funded businesses, some of which are looking at short-term management practices like cover cropping and incorporating straw into the soil to boost organic matter, notes Mr Hutley.
“Every farm requires an element of balance in its portfolio like stocks and shares traders have – short-term, long-term, high-risk, and low-risk. You need to have enough skin in the game that there’s a financial incentive to get it right but not so much that it will be crippling if you get it wrong.”
- The Cereals Event will take place from 11 to 12 June 2025 at Heath Farm, Leadenham, Lincolnshire, LN5 0QE. Early bird tickets are £10 for both days of the event. For more information, visit www.cerealsevent.co.uk.
Related news:
