2025 membership window open

As of 1 April, the 2025 membership window is now open to become an EFG 2025 member.

Those who have expressed an expression of interest (EoI) who would now like to become a Member should contact efg@gwct.org.uk.

If you have not yet submitted an expression of interest, this is an easy, no obligation process which can be completed here. This will provide you with access to EFG news, events and updates.

Why join?

As a cooperative group of farmers, EFG is delivering positive environmental change at a landscape-scale, funded through natural capital trading. Supported by some of the UK’s leading natural capital specialists, EFG acts as a trusted navigator for farmers and landowners by providing a cohesive approach to baselining, planning and monitoring natural capital (through Catchment Conservation Plans) and ensuring fair financial reward for Members. EFG now represents 4% of England’s farmed landscape. Generating this scale is key to the success of farmers in natural capital markets.

Members gain access to three main services which present value to farmers and landowners in Natural Capital markets:

  1. Trading – EFG creates market trading opportunities in statutory and voluntary natural capital markets and handles all trading opportunities which Members are faced with. It does this by creating preferential agreements with various service providers as well as creating partnerships and trading vehicles leveraging the scale provided by Members. Natural Capital Advisory (NCA) brokers all trading activity (working where appropriate with local agents) for farmers within the co-operative to ensure farmers are receiving fair value.
  2. Environmental Baselining – EFG supports farmers in environmental baselining as a co-operative. EFG provides guidance to members on baselining and builds a common environmental baselining approach to offer legitimate environmental services to buyers and to track environmental change delivered. GWCT has been appointed to create a ‘Catchment Conservation Plan’ in each EFG area to co-ordinating the environmental changes that farmers want to deliver.
  3. Membership – we service Members by:
    • notifying Members of any relevant Natural Capital trading opportunities,
    • handling any Natural Capital opportunities presented to Members,
    • sharing knowledge and answering questions on Natural Capital,
    • providing advice on Natural Capital,
    • mapping environmental changes Members are interested to complete on their farm (where funding allows),
    • holding regular events and meetings for Members.

Membership in practice

EFG is set up as a company limited by guarantee and therefore there are no shares and each Member’s liability is limited to £1. It does not aim to make profit – all excess income is either spent on growth of the group or redistributed back to Members.

Farmers join EFG by signing a Membership Application, Legal Agreement and by paying an annual subscription of £1.25 per hectare.

Members earn income from EFG in two ways. Firstly, by actively trading natural capital (e.g. through the sale of carbon credits or Biodiversity Net Gain Units) and secondly through ‘equalisation’ – income from trading completed by other Members.

For every trade completed within EFG, a proportion of the income earned by the Member (12%) will be shared to the cooperative. Of this, 3% is shared to the cooperative to cover its ongoing business costs and 9% is shared as equalisation with all other Members within the same ‘Equalisation Cell’ (including the Member who traded) based proportionally on hectarage.

This mechanism exists for three main reasons:

  1. To reward Members for providing selling power to the Member through scale.
  2. To reward Members for not competing with the Member trading.
  3. To provide a consistent income stream to Members (recognising that different Members will benefit from different income streams at different times).

Should you wish to find out more about becoming a member please get in touch via efg@gwct.org.uk . A member of our team would be happy to answer any questions.

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