Over the last 10 years FWAG SW Gloucestershire have helped to build and support a number of farmer groups across the county.
- The Farmer Guardians of the Upper Thames was first established in 2015 and has been facilitated by FWAG SW in Gloucestershire for over 10 years.
The Farmer Guardians are a group farming land within the Upper Thames catchment, roughly between Lechlade in the east, Swindon in the south, Tetbury in the west and Charlton Abbots in the north.
The group aim to be a collaborative group of farmers and land managers that deliver integrated socio-economic and environmental benefits in the Upper Thames.
The group have been central to Gloucestershire’s ELMS Test and Trials funded by DEFRA, and Green Investment Portfolio work funded by the Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund.
- The Severn Vale Guardians was established in 2018 and has been facilitated by FWAG SW in Gloucestershire for over 7 years.
The Severn Vale Guardians are a local farmer group, seeking to foster collaboration and encourage regenerative practices.
The group hold regular events to share knowledge and experience, for example orchard management, farmland birds, and soil health. The group were also involved in the successful delivery of the multidimensional Flourishing Floodplains project with Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the Floodplain Meadows Partnership (Open University) and plan to continue working together on more projects in the future.
- The Carrant Catchment Area Restoration Project (CCARP) was established in 2017 and has been facilitated by FWAG SW in Gloucestershire for over 8 years.
This project is a partnership of local conservation bodies, landowners and farmers cooperating to restore natural habitats and create corridors for wildlife within the catchment of the Carrant Brook.
The Carrant Brook flows east-west to the south of Bredon Hill before joining the River Avon at Tewkesbury. The brook crosses the administrative boundary between Worcestershire and Gloucestershire and the project brings together partners from both counties.
The group focus on water management to mitigate flooding and improve water quality and work with landowners to link key local habitats, restore existing and create new wildlife sites and to support collaboration on a landscape scale.