About

LAND is a research project exploring the future of sustainable land management in South West England. The project works in collaboration with the Thousand Year Trust and partners connected to the Atlantic Temperate Rainforest on Bodmin Moor.

Today, future land use is under unprecedented pressure with infinite demands on finite space to provide food, renewable energy, recreation, livelihoods, and wild spaces. In the context of climate change, economic uncertainty and changing policy. This project explores what future and current land management, and farming looks like as businesses diversify beyond traditional agricultural approaches and engage in landscape recovery projects.

We aim to understand how farmers and landowners are adapting to environmental and economic change, how nature restoration fits within farming systems, and how communities, organisations, and policymakers can work together to support resilient landscapes.

The project studies how environmental, economic, and social factors shape land use and recovery. We explore how these different elements can work together to support long term sustainability.

Key areas of focus

Sustainable farming and land management approaches
Nature restoration and rewilding
Farm business adaptation and diversification
Collaboration between landowners, communities, and institutions
Governance and policy shaping land use
Data and modelling to understand environmental and economic change over time

By looking at these areas together, the project aims to build a clearer understanding of how land recovery can be both environmentally effective and economically viable.

This research is part of Sustainable Futures, at the University of Exeter Business School