This is a session for landseekers, especially those registered with Landmatch England, although anyone seeking to take on land for a new farming or growing enterprise is welcome to attend.
If you’re a landseeker looking for land, a business plan helps you clearly set out how your enterprise will work in practice. A great business plan will increase your chances of securing the right land opportunity, as it’s a vital tool for demonstrating credibility and viability to landowners.
This session was hosted with agricultural consultant Vicky Herbert, who has been an advisor to agricultural businesses for 5 years. Alongside her consultancy work, Vicky has spent nearly 10 years farming: working with livestock and growing vegetables at both field scale and market garden level. She has experience on both sides of land-sharing agreements has been working to find land with Landmatch England herself!
Vicky is currently an Agricultural Consultant for ADAS, and has previously worked as an advisor both with Business Information Point, Devon, as well as Defra. She has advised farm businesses of all sizes. Her experience includes working with farmers on the transition away from the Basic Payment System after Brexit; providing advice for on-farm innovation with small farms; and working with protected landscapes with a focus on nature-friendly farming.
This session took place after our Financial Fundamentals session on the 13th May. We will refer to key concepts from that session, so we recommend attending it or watching the recording in advance.
In this session, we explore:
The fundamental building blocks of your business plan Introducing the key elements that need to be considered to build your business plan.
Choosing the right agreement Understanding scenarios for different land-sharing agreements (contract, tenancy, and joint venture) and how they shape your business plan.
Key costs and considerations We’ll consider the key costs and considerations for forecasting, including infrastructure development, equipment costs, and paying yourself.
Understand the different land agreements available for a land match, and how to approach making the right decision for you.
With a range of land-sharing agreements to consider, it can be challenging to know which option best suits your needs. Landmatch England ran this session to help you navigate those choices with confidence and take the next steps in your Landmatch journey.
We were joined by Harry Epsom and Frederik Lean Hansen, from Epsom Rural and Abunda.
Harry is a Regenerative Land Agent supporting landowners and rural entrepreneurs with their land agreements. He has specialist training in permaculture and regenerative agriculture, which supports his professional land agency work helping people build viable and future-proof rural enterprises.
Frederik is a specialist in regenerative farm finance and supports farm enterprises through financial planning and business modelling. Frederik helps people to understand the economics of regenerative transitions, build robust financial frameworks and align enterprise planning with their goals and values.
During this session, we explore:
Key considerations when approaching an agreement – How your vision, values, and the resources available to you will impact the land agreement you choose.
Types of land agreements, and their differences – Understanding the differences between land-sharing agreements and when they might be useful (this will cover joint ventures, tenancies, share farming agreements, and contracts).
Moving forward with the right agreement – We’ll consider how to choose the right agreement for you, and what the recommended next steps are to put one in place.
You might find it useful to get some background by reading through Types of Land Agreements, written with Epsom Rural.
This session is ideal for anyone seeking or offering land through Landmatch England, and working towards a land-sharing agreement as part of a land match.
This Landmatch England webinar is aimed at equipping you with the financial knowledge you need in the early stages of your land-based enterprise.
This session is for landseekers, especially those registered with Landmatch England, although anyone seeking to take on land for a new farming or growing enterprise will benefit.
We’re happy to welcome Richard Choksey, an advisor to community food growers and experienced grower. Richard has supported emerging food-growing enterprises and has practical experience of establishing a small-scale market garden himself with Black Rootz, a Black-led food growing project, as well as developing his own plant nursery business.
With over five years’ experience in London’s community food-growing network, and through his work with Social Farms & Gardens supporting new and developing projects, Richard will introduce the financial fundamentals you need to get started with growing your land-based enterprise.
In this session, we’ll explore:
What financial support is available to you as a landseeker – An overview of relevant government support and grants in England for new land-based enterprises.
How to approach grant funding – Learn how to approach grant funding applications, what evidence funders like to see, and how to maximise your chances of success.
Financial basics for getting started – An introduction to key concepts, including capital, revenue, profit, cash flow, budgeting, fixed and variable costs, and expenses.
There will be plenty of time for questions during the session.
This session is ideal for anyone currently seeking land through Landmatch England who could benefit from building their financial literacy to move forward with their next steps.
Join Us for the Launching Landmatch England Event!
We’re excited to invite you to the official launch of Landmatch England — a new, non-profit landmatching service working to make more land available for agroecological food production across England.
Whether you’re a landseeker, a landowner, or simply curious about how better land access can unlock a fairer, more resilient food and farming system, this session will explain how the Landmatch England service works.
You should attend if you are…
A landseeker looking for agroecological or nature-friendly farming/growing opportunities.
A landowner interested in offering land for land seeking farmers and growers.
An advisor, organisation or anyone exploring access to land solutions in England.
Through this launch session, you will learn what “landmatching” means in practice. On our agenda…
Our Story So Far
We’ll explain:
Why improving access to land in England is so urgently needed.
How Landmatch England has been developed, and which organisations have been working on it.
Why we are working alongside the Pathways to Land programme to provide specific additional support to marginalised groups.
How our Service Works
We’ll give an overview of:
How Landmatch England will support Landowners and Landseekers.
Who can apply, and what additional support will be available in specific regions.
How to use our website, sign up to the programme and benefit from our service.
A Landseeker’s Perspective: The benefits of landmatching
We are welcoming Holly Smith as a guest speaker to share why she is looking for land through Landmatch England. Holly is an experienced land worker, surveyor and land agent with ten years of experience lambing large flocks and running a conservation grazing business. She is looking to expand her business from conservation grazing towards a meat and fibre flock, with a focus on land management.
A Landowner’s Perspective
We also welcome David Wolfe, from Wakelyns Farm, one of the oldest, most diverse, organic agroforestry sites in Western Europe now hosting rural businesses through ‘enterprise stacking’. David will share why they have signed up as a landowner to the Landmatch England Service and what they hope to gain from being a part.
Q&A
Bring your practical questions about the service and what support is available, and we’ll share the next steps for the programme.
The Landmatch England team are glad to be attending the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2026
Photo Credit – Hugh Warwick
The Landmatch England team are glad to be attending the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC) on Thursday 8th January 2026. We’ll be hosting The Great Lunchtime Landmatch, a participatory session designed to introduce you to how the Landmatch England programme works.
We welcome everyone interested in landmatching to join us and connect with others to learn how the programme is helping to create new opportunities for access to land across England.
Come along to the Inter-Varsity Room at Blue Boar House at 12.45pm-13.30pm on Thursday 8th January to attend.
Session description:
Explore landmatching with us at ORFC through this session. Right after the launch of Landmatch England, we are unveiling our new service aimed at improving access to land. We will be interrogating the challenges of landmatching and discussing the opportunities, together.
All are welcome: Whether you are a grower looking for a site, a landowner with parcels of land that don’t work for your current model, or just interested in this concept and wanting to find out more.
As we seek a better balance between agroecology, businesses and the land, we look forward to nurturing the roots of this project at ORFC.
Find out more about the Oxford Real Farming Conference and get tickets on their website here.
