Martin Lines

Nature Natters: What next for nature? Nature Natters column from the September 2025 issue of Crop Production Magazine

My latest opinion piece in the Crop Production Magazine.
www.cpm-magazine.co.uk/opinion/natu...

Podcast: Household budgets squeezed as food prices surge

Spoke to Evening Standard about what’s driving food price rises. Farmers face soaring costs & climate extremes, yet much of the value is lost higher up the chain. If we want fair prices & secure food, we need to support farming that builds resilient soils & nature
www.standard.co.uk/comment/podc...

View from my bedroom in London this week. 😍 lots of productive meetings.

🎙️ New series! Our CEO @linesmartin.bsky.social joins ffinlo Costain monthly on the Nature Friendly Farm Gate podcast to unpack UK food & farming policy. First up: English farm policy, Defra’s role & an update on Martin’s farm. 👉 Listen here: https://tinyurl.com/2ku9fbkj

#nffn

Nature Natters: To plough or not to plough? Nature Natters column from the August 2025 issue of Crop Production Magazine

My latest opinion piece in the Crop Production Magazine. Taking care of our soil has to be our number one priority. I see soil as the bank account for our business: invest into it and it will provide positive returns.

www.cpm-magazine.co.uk/opinion/natu...

🦋 Nature Friendly Farm Gate - A new monthly series on the Farm Gate podcast channel.
🎤 🎧 With ffinlo Costain & @linesmartin.bsky.social (Chief Exec, @nffn.bsky.social).
👉 Listen to the audio podcast here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
👉 Watch the rough cut here: 8point9.com/nature-frien...

Farmers are stepping up to tackle pollution, but it’s a shared challenge. Martin Lines reminds us that consumers, supply chains & policymakers must play their part too.💧
Read more: https://www.nffn.org.uk/resources/from-our-ceo-we-need-to-stop-blaming-farmers-and-work-together-on-water-pollution

Receive an email today from the RPA to say they have finally fixed the issues on their computer system that was preventing us from doing a capital grant application. Unfortunately it’s taken so long the scheme has closed so that means work to improve our environment we won’t be able to deliver.😔

Steve Holden on LBC News - Catch Up | Global Player Catch up on the last 7 days of shows from Steve Holden on LBC News

Listen to @linesmartin.bsky.social on LBC radio talking (at 1:43) with @steveholden.bsky.social about the impacts of drought and the importance of nature-friendly farming 👇

www.globalplayer.com/catchup/lbcn...

That’s our #Harvest25 completed. Better than feared, but the dry weather this year has reduced yields. Now time to focus on getting sorted for #Harvest26

Great to welcome Steve Reed Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to our CEO @linesmartin.bsky.social farm 🌱 A valuable visit discussing how nature friendly farming can tackle climate, food, water and nature challenges while building resilient, profitable farms. 🤝💚

Not productive in what? Food, nature, climate mitigation, water quality etc? Farmers now and in the future need to look at all their productivity from their landscape and be rewarded for it.

Very willing to discuss a range of different issues and keen to listen. Defra have a lot of areas of work going on and having the opportunity to discuss them and put across our NFFN farmers views is very important.

This afternoon I hosted Defra SoS Steve Reed on our farm. A great opportunity to show him around our farm and discuss nature friendly farming & lots of other topics. Farming is facing many challenges now & in the future. Having the opportunity to discuss things with the Steve Reed is very important.

Time to reduce, recycle and reuse nitrogen, says Lords Committee - Committees - UK Parliament The Environment and Climate Change Committee has published its report, ‘Nitrogen: time to reduce, recycle, reuse’, which calls for the UK to be more ambitious and strategic in its plans to...

Good to see the Lords spotlighting nitrogen pollution. Farmers want to do the right thing - but they need joined-up support to do it. More support for soil, nature, and resilient food systems.
This report gets that. Let’s make sure it turns into action. committees.parliament.uk/committee/51...

🔈We’re looking for an ambitious Country Manager to lead our growth and operations in Scotland!

Closing date: 6 August

Apply today: www.nffn.org.uk/news/hiring-...

#NFFNScotland

We had some great discussions today at the Royal Welsh Show, including conversations between our CEO @linesmartin.bsky.social , Hywel Morgan NFFN Cymru Steering Group Chair, the First Minister, Deputy First Minister, and Liberal Democrat MP David Chadwick, all focused on nature-friendly farming 👏

🚨 Groundswell 2025 Ticket Giveaway! 🚨 Win a FREE ticket! Become an NFFN member (it's free!) for a chance to win. Winner announced 4pm 23 June!

Already going? See our sessions at: https://www.nffn.org.uk/events/nffn-at-groundswell-2025

What to expect from an EA inspection on farm - Farmers Weekly The number of farm inspections carried out by the Environment Agency (EA) has ramped up in recent years, as the government seeks to tackle water

A very good article in this week’s @farmersweeklyuk.bsky.social on “What to expect from an EA inspection on farm”. Very timely article with the farming rules for water statutory guidance being updated soon.
www.fwi.co.uk/business/com...

Great day on the @nffn.bsky.social stand @rspbengland.bsky.social Hope Farm #OpenFarmSunday event. Really good numbers of public attending. Great to see my local MP @iansollom.bsky.social attending and seeing how nature recovery and food production works together.

YouTube video by 8.9ha Emergency podcast: Is nature-friendly farming under attack?

I joined Ffinlo Costain and others on @8point9.bsky.social’s Farm Gate podcast to talk about nature-friendly farming - what’s under threat, why it matters, and where next.
🎧 Also on Apple & Spotify - search “Farm Gate”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjYh...

Surprised and honoured to be nominated for the @endsreport.com Power List and join an amazing list of people. 😊

Nature-friendly farming delivers some of the key commitments Labour made in its manifesto: lower emissions, restored habitats, and clean energy. Cutting it wouldn’t just be short-sighted - it would be self-defeating. 📢 Write to your MP: https://f.mtr.cool/mflbcligdu
#nffn #naturefriendlyfarming

Nature Natters: Crops - whatever the weather May edition of the Nature Natters feature by Martin Lines

My latest opinion piece in this month's Crop Prodution magazine. 👇
www.cpm-magazine.co.uk/opinion/natu...

Farming budget `must be protected as drought looms´ Farm and nature leaders made the plea as figures show swathes of the UK have had the most days with no or little rain on record for the year so far.

Every farm I’ve spoken to lately is feeling the pressure.
Dry fields, shrinking support, and no clear sense of what’s coming next.

If we want food on plates 🍽️ and nature in the field 🌱, we’ve got to back farmers properly.
www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/art...

Growing more than food: The benefits of nature-friendly farming By Martin Lines, CEO, Nature Friendly Farming Network, andPeter Craven, Head of Agriculture, Natural England This week is Nature Friendly Farming Week, and with a theme of 'More than growing food' it ...

It’s Nature Friendly Farming Week. Fields are dry, crops are under pressure, and a lot of farmers are having to make tough calls.

I’ve written with Natural England about why building resilience through nature-friendly farming matters more than ever.

👇

naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2025/05/20/g...

Great to have been at the #TransitionLive today with @farmersweeklyuk.bsky.social - and to join the panel on trees 🌳, livestock 🐑 & making silvopasture work

Main message: don’t overthink it. Start small, plant where it works, build it over time 🌱

Well done to all involved in organising it today 👏👏

Martin Lines: Arable farmer Martin Lines said farmers have 'wasted time' by fighting the 'wrong battles' with Government when they should be championing the benefits they provide to society as a whole

We have failed to make a strong united case to the Government to the Treasury & to the public about the enormous value farmers deliver not just in food but in climate resilience nature recovery, water quality, flood mitigation, & public access @farmersguardian www.farmersguardian.com/blog/4413107...

Our in field margins are starting to look great and over the last few years we’ve added them to all our fields every 90-120m. Receiving public funded support to deliver these and cover the cost allow us to deliver them. Supporting nature recovery on farms supports food security.

Thanks @alistrathern.bsky.social for hosting this roundtable of MPs and farmers in Westminster to discuss how support for farming and nature must go hand in hand 🤝. “As well as producing the food we eat, our farmers are the stewards of the countryside and nature that makes our country so special.”