• Lloyds Banking Group and Wildfarmed launch the 'Food & Nature Resilience Fund', a mechanism designed to accelerate the transition of the UK's 3 million hectares of arable farmland to regenerative agriculture
• The fund brings together UK banks, utility companies, insurers and businesses across food and non-food value chains, pooling investment to reward farmers for delivering verified improvements across biodiversity, soil health, water quality and carbon
• Critically, it does so without taking land out of food production, making it one of the only mechanisms in the UK where investment in nature and food production advance simultaneously
• The fund is designed to make the transition to regenerative practices commercially viable for farmers, addressing the financial barriers that 92% of farmers cite as the primary obstacle to change
• Severn Trent, Affinity Water and AXA XL are among the first organisations committed to the initiative, with further partners expected to follow

Wildfarmed, the regenerative food and farming business, and Lloyds Banking Group, the UK’s largest agricultural lender, have partnered to pool investment to accelerate the transition to nature-positive farming and help secure the long-term future of the sector.

The ‘Food & Nature Resilience Fund’ comes at a pivotal moment for the sector, which can’t be faced by farmers alone. Analysis by the Green Finance Institute, conducted with input from Defra and HM Treasury, estimates that ecosystem decline could amount to a 12% hit to GDP over the next decade if nature degradation is not addressed.

The ‘Food & Nature Resilience Fund’ incentivises farmers to farm with nature without taking land away from food production. This allows farmers to make positive improvements to nature recovery on their land, without compromising on economic outcomes. Unlike many existing nature finance schemes, this distinct fund supports the principle that nature recovery and food production are not competing priorities; to build a more sustainable food system, the UK needs to advance both at the same time.

The fund enables investment from banks, utility companies, insurers and other businesses across food and non-food value chains, bringing together organisations that share a common interest in more resilient food and farmed landscapes - but that are not directly connected to food supply chains - to help accelerate the transition of land to regenerative practices.

Water companies, Severn Trent and Affinity Water, along with global commercial insurer AXA XL, are among the first organisations committed to the initiative, with further partners expected to be announced.

By pooling investment across sectors to support farmers, the fund aims to create a model that better reflects the reality of farming as central to a resilient economy.

A fundamental principle of the fund is that the shift to regenerative practices must be commercially viable for the farmers undertaking it. Wildfarmed works with a wide range of world-class research partners to analyse and report on in-field data to demonstrate how its farming practices are making meaningful contributions to improve soil health, increase biodiversity, minimise water pollution and reduce carbon.

The University of Bristol recorded a 79% increase in insect biomass compared to conventionally farmed land (2024). Research organisation NIAB (2025) also found 15 Red List bird species - some of the UK's most endangered - recorded within Wildfarmed fields.

That wildlife is returning to actively farmed, food-producing land demonstrates that nature recovery and agricultural productivity are not mutually exclusive, and that with the right farming practices and financial support, both can be achieved at scale.

The case for change is also a human one. In a recent survey, 91% of Wildfarmed growers reported a positive impact on their wellbeing and job satisfaction, a finding that reflects the broader ambition of the fund: to build a farming system that is better for nature, better for soils, and better for British farmers.

Ben Makowiecki, Agriculture Sustainability Director at Lloyds Banking Group, said:

“As the UK’s largest agricultural lender, we have a responsibility to support farmers during this transition. By bringing together businesses with a stake in resilient farming, healthy soils, clean water and thriving natural ecosystems, this fund can help set in motion the pace of change needed to scale regenerative agriculture across the UK while creating a more reliable financial model for farmers.

This partnership builds on our broader support for farmers through our Agricultural Transition Finance proposition, which rewards the adoption of regenerative practices, as well as our established partnership with Soil Association Exchange, with Exchange Market focused on removing carbon from the food supply chain, and the Routes to Regen initiative.”

Andy Cato, Co-founder at Wildfarmed, commented:

“Historically, our food system has priced nature at zero. The consequences of this are everywhere, from food price inflation to the fragility of the ecosystems on which we all depend.”

“Nature and food production are too often seen in opposition, with payment schemes forcing farmers to choose one or the other. Yet a resilient, abundant future depends on nature-rich food-producing land. For many years, it has been an ambition for farmers to be rewarded for delivering nature and resilience whilst growing food, not instead of it. This partnership is a big step forward in making this a reality at scale.”