The LENs model continues to grow and scale. To ensure that we are able to serve an increasingly large and diverse partnership across the regions we are introducing some new approaches that strengthen the systems and processes which enable the collaboration at the heart of LENs’s success.
You can find more information about the improvements, process changes and benefits for supply aggregators below.
To accelerate further and faster, we have to ensure that our systems and processes are as resilient as we want our landscapes to be.
Donald Lunan
LENs Interim Co-CEO
What improvements have we made to the LENs model?
1. Outcomes
We’ve made changes that will enable a greater focus on the outcomes we all want to achieve.
In practice, this means that LENs will curate ‘packages’ of measures, which will include both outcomes and cost summaries.
2. Optimisation
We’ve optimised the LENs trading cycle for all stakeholders.
We’ve introduced proposal structures to accelerate cost sharing. We’re also making more explicit how we complement public-funded measures too.
LENs will also optimise budget allocation between funders, saving time for all involved.
The trading and contracting cycle will shorten, reducing the amount of time and resources stakeholders need to allocate to the trading period.
3. Support
We’ve introduced a ‘Regen Pathway’ to provide greater support for farmers.
The Regen Pathway will help farmers identify concrete steps they can take towards a more regenerative farming system.
It will also enable LENs to better understand farmers’ progress on the journey from conventional to regenerative farming practices.
This will enable us to provide farmers with targeted support as they move along the Pathway, reward them as they do so, and enable a greater focus on outcomes for all stakeholders.
What changes should supply aggregators know about?
1
We’ve introduced a more detailed specification, which the farmers you work with can use to develop proposals.
2
We’ve given supply aggregators a more defined role, with clearer deliverables in each trade cycle.
3
We’ve introduced a small change in the proposal templates, which will now clearly define ‘Innovation’ and ‘Beyond Agriculture’ (such as measures that address water quality or flood risk) as separate mechanisms.
How do these changes benefit supply aggregators?
1
The changes will provide you with greater clarity upfront on:
- Whether or not the farmers you work with are eligible to receive funding – and, if they are,
- The likelihood of the farmers you work with receiving funding.
2
The changes should also give you greater clarity on the total number of hectares and/or farms that the trade might be able to support.
3
LENs funding can be used for new practices not currently supported by public subsidy schemes, such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and CAP Eco-schemes.
4
If funding has not been secured, we will also be able to more clearly articulate why funding this was the case.
5
The introduction of the Regen Pathway will help to provide clarity on how LENs defines regenerative agriculture. It also means LENs is able to provide greater support and so encourage the adoption of regenerative farming practices at each Pathway level:
- ‘Transition’ funding will see farmers paid on a per-measure basis. This is for farmers wishing to use LENs to support their transition to adopting new land management practices that are linked to the Regen Pathway levels.
- We will reward farmers already at ‘Advanced’ or ‘Leading’ levels in the Regen Pathway for maintaining their practices. These payments will operate on a per-hectare basis, as long as the farmer meets the relevant criteria.
If you have questions or would like any further information, please get in touch with your LENs Regional Coordinator, or via lens@3keel.com.