Summary
This first national-scale survey of UK farmers reveals widespread awareness and uptake of sustainable soil management practices, with 92% of respondents self-identifying as sustainable managers. However, farmers combine practices in heterogeneous ways that do not uniformly correspond to the full set of regenerative agriculture principles. The study demonstrates fragmentation in how sustainable soil management is conceptualised by farmers and promoted through agricultural knowledge and innovation services.
Regional applicability
Directly applicable; this is a UK-specific study of current farmer practice and understanding. The findings highlight a policy-practice gap in regenerative agriculture adoption and suggest that knowledge and extension services require better alignment with formal regenerative principles to support farmers moving beyond heterogeneous practice adoption.
Key measures
Awareness levels (>60%), uptake rates (>30%), self-reported sustainable soil management status (92%), regenerative agriculture score across five principles (reduced soil disturbance, soil cover, crop diversity, and two others implied)
Outcomes reported
The study measured farmer awareness and uptake of sustainable soil management practices, self-reported sustainability status, and alignment of current practices with regenerative agriculture principles across mixed and arable farms. A 'regenerative agriculture score' was derived to assess how farmers' practice combinations map onto the five core principles of regenerative agriculture.
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