For the third year in a row, natural and organic beauty brand Neal’s Yard Remedies is pledging to donate 1% of its sales over Black Friday weekend (29 November – 2 December) to the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) to help reverse biodiversity decline and safeguard nature across the UK.
The NFFN provides farmers with the resources to transition to regenerative farming practices that work in harmony with nature. The organisation, which is led by the farming community, works to raise awareness of the ever-evolving challenges facing biodiversity, helps to shape nature-friendly policies, safeguarding the future of British sustainable agriculture.
A recent report from Natural England has shown that nature-friendly farming schemes have led to significant increases in biodiversity across England, including a 25% rise in breeding birds and benefits to butterflies, bees, and bats.
Over the last two years, Neal’s Yard Remedies’ donations have helped to fund the creation of a peer-to-peer education pack distributed to a network 3,000+ farmers. Last year’s donations funded a series of Integrated Pest Management workshops for farmers seeking to transition to nature-friendly farming methods. These workshops were attended by farmers who are collectively responsible for 9.3k acres of land across the UK to date.
For Martin Lines, a third-generation farmer and CEO of the NFFN, knowledge sharing between farmers has been central to developing his farming systems. “Learning from others about how enhancing nature makes food production more resilient has been invaluable. Farmers need the confidence and understanding that there is another way of farming that works better for business, as much as it does for nature.”
“We believe in farming with nature, not against it,” adds Anabel Kindersley, owner and CEO of Neal’s Yard Remedies. “The erosion of natural spaces and the decline in biodiversity is a challenge we all face. Our donations will continue to support the NFFN’s knowledge-sharing programme in the hope we’ll reach more farmers, so we can all work together on these vital preservation practices. Neal’s Yard Remedies, and our customers, collectively want to be part of the solution.”
From their ongoing donations to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to campaigning to ban pesticides and preserve bee-friendly habitats as part of their Stand By Bees campaign, over the years Neal’s Yard Remedies’ contributions have helped to facilitate vital conservation projects globally.
