Wildfarmed has teamed up with Lloyds Banking Group to create a fund designed to accelerate the uptake of regenerative agriculture in the UK.
Called the Food & Nature Resilience Fund, it aims to encourage farmers of the UK’s three million hectares of arable farmland to transition to nature-positive farming.
It 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.
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 in the works.
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.
Wildfarmed said the fund would allow farmers to make positive improvements to nature recovery on their land, without compromising on economic outcomes. As such, the Food & Nature Resilience Fund supports the principle that nature recovery and food production are not competing priorities; noting that the UK needs to advance both at the same time to build a more sustainable food system.
“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,” said Wildfarmed co-founder Andy Cato.
“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.”
Details on the size of the fund or the criteria for applicants has not been shared at this stage.
Ben Makowiecki, agriculture sustainability director at Lloyds Banking Group, added: “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.”
Wildfarmed works with a wide range of world-class research partners to analyse and report on in-field data to demonstrate the improvements made by its farming practices. It pointed to research by the University of Bristol which 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.
The business said that the fact 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.
Founded in 2018 by Andy Cato, George Lamb and Edd Lees, Wildfarmed has built a network of farmers, businesses and consumers who are working together to change the way we grow food. Wildfarmed flour, barley, and oats are used by over a thousand food businesses from micro-bakeries to cafe chains, and from Michelin-starred to high-street restaurants including Greggs, Gail’s, Jolene, the National Trust, and Delice de France to name a few.
It also has its own consumer-facing range of bakery products and flour, including crumpets which were rolled out in November 2025 and sliced Simply Sourdough which was unveiled just this week.
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