LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) has announced the winner of the inaugural LEAF Caroline Drummond Scholarship for Innovation in Sustainability.
Dr Nikki Gammans, Conservation Projects Manager for South East England at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, will lead a pioneering project – ‘Farming For Bumblebees’ – to investigate forming the first bumblebee focused farmer cluster groups in the UK. Initially, they will be established in the South East of England specifically looking at protecting and enhancing bumblebee-friendly floral rich habitat on a landscape scale to the proven benefit of both biodiversity and farm productivity outcomes.
Nikki becomes the first recipient of The LEAF Caroline Drummond Scholarship for Innovation in Sustainability, named in recognition of the enormous legacy of LEAF’s founder and former CEO, Caroline Drummond MBE, who led the organisation from its inception in 1991.
Working for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust for the last 16 years, Nikki has provided bespoke advice to over 70 farmers on creating, managing, and maintaining flower-rich habitats for bumblebees.
Speaking on the Scholarship, Nikki said: “I am incredibly excited to receive the first LEAF Caroline Drummond Scholarship to support our work to form four farm clusters in Kent and East Sussex. These will be the first clusters to have bumblebees (pollinators) as the main area of focus, as so many of our farms rely on these charismatic insects for their pollination services. Kent has the greatest diversity of rare bumblebees in the UK, with five of the seven rarest species found here. This is due to the type of farming in the area, with our mixed farms providing a wide variety of habitats where bumblebees can forage, nest and hibernate. It is vital that our work with farmers to preserve and increase the land available to bumblebees and other pollinators continues for both the species themselves and for farm sustainability. Furthermore, the Scholarship will provide vital support to examine the feasibility of establishing collaborative working through the farmer clusters and will be the first important step in rolling the model out across the UK.”
Philip Wynn OBE, LEAF Chair added: “We are delighted to support Nikki in this hugely significant project. We know that bumblebees pollinate many of our most important food crops across Europe, Asia and America and have also been shown to increase the yield, size and quality of our most economically important crops. Caroline was a pioneer of more nature-friendly farming driven by farmer-to-farmer learning. She dedicated her working life to marrying environmentally responsible farming with economically resilient methods of production. I can think of no better piece of work that embodies her vision for more sustainable and climate positive farming systems.”
We are hugely grateful to The Worshipful Company of Farmers as well as individual donors for supporting the establishment of The LEAF Caroline Drummond Scholarship.
Chairman of The Worshipful Company of Farmers Trustee Company, Julian Sayers MBE concluded: “Caroline was the driving force behind LEAF for more sustainable farming practices. She was a highly regarded leader and innovator in the farming industry, an inspirational thinker, collaborator, and communicator. We are privileged to support this Scholarship which will help ensure that Caroline’s legacy lives on by supporting the next generation of practitioners and innovators. Our congratulations go to Nikki and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, we look forward to following her work over the coming year in driving positive change for our pollinators.”
Read more about LEAF.
