In this LEAF Surgery session, we explore how environmental baselining can evolve from simple data collection into a powerful tool for decision‑making, farm resilience, and value creation across the supply chain.

We were joined by two expert speakers:

Sarah Haynes, Head of Sustainability at the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) – sharing insights from IGD’s work on the value of baselining England’s farmland and why coordinated, large‑scale approaches matter.
Carolien Samson, Head of Sustainable Farming at Oxbury Bank – discussing how baselining underpins investment decisions, risk management, and the transition to more resilient farming systems.

Key Takeaways

• Different stakeholders need different levels of data – from individual farms to national and global supply chains – causing fragmentation.
• Baselining offers both environmental and economic benefits, but greater alignment is needed to reduce duplication and reporting burdens.
• “Good enough and scalable” metrics are often more useful than “perfect” data.
• Strong governance and transparency build trust and unlock value for everyone.
• Farmers must stay at the centre, ensuring data genuinely supports on‑farm decisions and delivers real benefits.

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Our latest podcast takes a deeper dive into the roots of supporting tree health on-farm. Join Andrew Keyte , Farm Manager at LEAF Demonstration Farm, Ragley Home Farms, Dr Jake Morris who specialises in Plant Health Evidence & Analysis at Defra and LEAF Technical Officer, Eleanor Marks, as they talk tactics, technologies and teamwork for smarter, more integrated approaches to tree health management.

Download A Farmer's Guide to Ash Dieback here.

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In this episode, Elle Vercoe-Gibson, LEAF Marque Certification Manager, discusses the LEAF Sustainable Farming Review, how it works, what it delivers for farmers, it’s role within an Integrated Farm Management approach to more sustainable farming and finally, how it fits in with LEAF Marque certification.

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In this episode, we discussed SEAMS (Sus­tain­abil­i­ty in Edu­ca­tion and Agri­cul­ture using Mix­tures), a four-year project funded by the Esme Fairbairn Foundation and coordinated by the James Hutton Institute, as the project draws to a close. The project focused on crop mixtures and aimed to develop, promote and implement crop species mixtures as a sustainable crop production system for Scotland and as a resource for knowledge exchange on food production, agricultural ecology and environmental sustainability. We were joined by the project lead of SEAMS, Rob Brooker from the James Hutton Institute and Thomas Veitch from Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture, who was involved in running trials as part of the project. In this discussion, Rob and Thomas reflected on the project's outcomes and legacy and looked at the next steps for crop mixtures within sustainable crop production systems.

The data platform mentioned in the podcast is already available here, but will be officially launched at this year’s Arable Scotland in July

For more information on the SEAMS project please visit:
https://www.hutton.ac.uk/research/projects/seams-sustainability-education-and-agriculture-using-mixtures

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Join Elle Vercoe-Gibson, LEAF's Certification Manager talking through the LEAF Marque Standard v16.0. Focussing on the latest changes to the Standard, what these changes mean for LEAF Marque growers and touching on a general overview of LEAF Marque as a whole.

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This week we’re in Cornwall with our Ambassador for the South West, Rona Amiss, talking with chicken and arable farmer Jenny Olds about how they found hosting their LOFS event for the first time last year, county show clashes and wet weather plans!

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Lucy Redmore, LEAF Assurance Manager explains how LEAF Marque works with Certification Bodies and the role they play in LEAF's monitoring and evaluation programme. She also talks us through the application process for Certification Bodies to work with LEAF.

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In this episode LOFS ambassador in Scotland, Rebecca Dawes and Caroline chat about the benefits of hosting a LEAF Open Farm Sunday event for a diversified farm business!

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