How can large landowners like the Church Commissioners rewild their tenanted land?

We’re asking the Church Commissioners to commit to rewilding 30% of their land by 2030 but we are also aware that much of this land is leased out to tenant farmers. With a just transition forming part of Wild Card’s values statement, we are conscious that rewilding land does not mean tenant farmers are just left out in the cold. With this in mind, how could the Church Commissioners go about both rewilding their land for nature and ensuring a just transition for farmers? 

First, let’s quickly recap. The Church Commissioners are the wealthy investment arm of the Church of England, who own a whopping 108,000 acres of rural land dotted throughout England as part of their £10.3bn asset portfolio.  With much of this land leased out to tenant farmers, it is important that a commitment to rewilding by the Church Commissioners is complemented by a plan to collaborate with and support their tenant farmers in the process. 

In a previous blog we’ve explained what we know about the land owned by the Church Commissioners and how achieving the 30×30 target is doable without touching their highly productive agricultural land. Here, we’ll look into the multitude of ways the Church Commissioners can practically approach rewilding their land in a way that is fair, collaborative and delivers benefits to tenant farmers and their surrounding communities.

1. Collaboratively plan and identify opportunities

There’s no denying that achieving 30×30 will require careful planning and consultation. Crucially, the Church Commissioners will need to work with tenants and experts to identify areas of land with rewilding potential. We’ve used what information is available to suggest what land should be considered, including areas of established woodland, Sites of Special Scientific Interest and the 5,000 acres of lowland peat within the Church Commissioners’ ownership. However, the input  of tenant farmers, who know the land more intimately than most, will be essential in the planning process. Similarly, conservation experts will be able to provide valuable input, such as considerations of landscape recovery potential and habitat connectivity. Thorough planning, informed by the on-ground knowledge of tenants as well as scientific expertise, can then be used in determining the best approach to reaching the 30% target, both at an asset portfolio level as well as at the local, farm scale. 

2. Enable and empower tenants

Agricultural tenancy agreements can seem to be somewhat of a hurdle to rewilding tenanted land. But – no fear! – there are ways this can be overcome. The Church Commissioners will need to assess the terms of new, renewed and existing agricultural tenancy agreements to check that they allow for rewilding activities to be undertaken.  The Crown Estate has demonstrated leadership in this area by collaborating with the Tenant Farmers Association and their tenant farmers to develop Environmental Farm Business Tenancy (eFBT) agreements that are intentionally designed to enable the adoption of mutually benefitting initiatives that accelerate nature recovery alongside food production.  This hard work was done with the intention that it be adopted by other large landlords, and so the Church Commissioners should follow suit by working with their own tenants to adopt these new style agreements. 

With the legalities sorted, the Church Commissioners can actively support their tenants to unlock public Environmental Land Management Schemes, enter into private environmental markets, and secure grants to fund rewilding projects. The Commissioners’ can do this by facilitating access to training, advisors and networks that will equip tenants with the knowledge, skills and support they need to access funding and participate in rewilding efforts. 

Other significant institutional landowners, such as the Duchy of Cornwall and the Crown Estate, have already taken some of these steps to support their tenants to contribute to the UK’s 30×30 target. For example, the Crown Estate has made £20 million available to their tenant farmers as part of a Rural Environment Fund to support work contributing to portfolio-wide nature recovery. The Church Commissioners themselves have established grant programmes to support Church of England dioceses to undertake net zero initiatives, and should explore ways they could extend a similar helping hand out to their tenants 

3. Seek partnerships

With the reach and resources available to them, the Church Commissioners are in the position to facilitate exciting partnerships with farmers, community groups, businesses, research faculties, councils and NGOs on rewilding projects. Partnerships can increase the feasibility of larger scale rewilding projects by attracting more funding and harnessing the collective resources of partners to the benefit of all. Partnerships can also offer more opportunities for community involvement, fostering greater connection and care for local landscapes.

The Marlborough Downs Nature Enhancement Partnership is an example of this working in practice. This project is led by a collective of local farmers, working in partnership with Black Sheep Countryside Management, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Wiltshire Council and supported by the involvement of many other community groups, organisations and businesses. Together, they are working toward landscape-scale nature restoration across Marlborough Downs. Wouldn’t it be great to see the Church Commissioners take the lead on partnership projects like this? 

4. Take on retired tenancies

Where there is mutual agreement with the tenant, the Church Commissioners’ may choose to take land back in hand for rewilding. We want to clearly premise this on the understanding that land should not be taken off tenants without their free and informed consent, as this would be unjust. Rather, when a tenant relinquishes their tenancy, the Church Commissioners can take the land under their direct management to progress their rewilding target as an alternative to seeking new tenants to enter into new eFBT’s. 

So, there you have it! These are a few of the ways we’ve identified that the Church Commissioners could go about rewilding their tenanted land. There could be even more options to explore if the Commissioners would be open to discussing a commitment to 30×30, as we’ve asked them various times before. With a little creativity, and the willingness to put in the effort, the Church Commissioners can achieve the 30×30 target all the while demonstrating leadership by building strong relationships with their tenants, working collaboratively with partners and connecting communities to the biodiversity of our beautiful rural landscapes.