Farming Futures wins Global Green Award for Creativity in Sustainability

Farming Futures, Forum for the Futures project communicating practical action on climate change in the agricultural industry, has won Best Public Sector campaign at the Global Green Awards.

The Farming Futures partnership was launched in 2006 to raise awareness about climate change amongst farmers and land managers. It has since become the leading behaviour change communications project in the sector, with brand recognition at almost 50% amongst the target audience.

The project runs a website (www.farmingfutures.org.uk) with a blog written by farmers and industry experts; free on-farm workshops across the country; free resources on crucial issues such as on-farm renewable technologies, reducing emissions from livestock, and soil management. The project uses film and animation to communicate its messages, and a dynamic media strategy to raise the profile of climate change in the farming press.

The project has succeeded in:

• Informing and inspiring farmers to take action: Farming Futures runs 12 free, on-farm workshops every year, each attended by an average of 99 farmers. At a recent workshop for the dairy industry, 33% of attendees said they would definitely take action after the event, and 65% said they would investigate more.
• Building a powerful online presence: the Farming Futures website had almost 4,000 unique users in November, the average time on site is just under 4 minutes, and has a pages per visit rate of 3.4. It was recently shortlisted for the Website of the Year Award from the Good Web Guide (one of 14 out of a field of 1800).
• Making noise in the media: during 2010, we have generated 156,000 worth of advertising value equivalent in the farming press.

Farming Futures has also pioneered the use of social media within the farming industry, getting farmers and experts to share ideas and opinions on the blog, and using tools such as Twitter, Slideshare and film to reach out and engage with the farming audience.

Ben Tuxworth (Director of Communications, Forum for the Future and Chair of the Farming Futures partnership) said, Im very proud that the Farming Futures team and partners have recognised by the Green Awards for our work. Farming Futures has gone from strength to strength over the years and we thank our partners for supporting us on that journey.

The award comes as Farming Futures own future is in doubt, with Defra funding that has sustained it since inception coming to an end in March 2011. Were very keen to continue the vital work of helping farmers respond to climate change, and are hoping this award will help us attract new funding.

The Global Green Awards were set up in 2006 to recognise and reward creative work that communicates the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility, sustainable development and ethical best practice in any sector and across any marketing discipline. Now in its 5th year the GREEN AWARDS are going global and are for the first time opened for entry from all over the world.

About Farming Futures

Farming Futures is an industry-led collaborative project between Forum for the Future, NFU, CLA, AIC, AHDB (on behalf of the agricultural and horticultural levy boards), FWAG LEAF, and Defra to communicate practical action on climate change. Farming Futures is funded by Defras Farming for the Future Programme and Act on CO2 until March 2011.