Engaging ‘harder to reach’ farmers: the roles and needs of skilled intermediaries. Research Summary. Universities of Sheffield and Reading.

This report presents the high-level findings of research led by the University of Sheffield in collaboration with the University of Reading, carried out in 2020 & 2021. The research focused on engaging ‘harder to reach’ (HTR) farmers in policy design and delivery. It outlines the role of skilled intermediaries in supporting farmers throughout the post-Brexit agricultural transition, as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on farmer engagement. Initial research involved a quick scoping review, 23 expert interviews and a workshop that brought together farm advisers who were engaged with HTR farmers (see Lyon et al., 2020; Hurley et al., 2020). The research design for the current project involved an analysis of the original data and a series of 24 new semi-structured expert interviews. Thus, two sets of interviews make up the evidence base of this research project.