What is the Jordans Farm Partnership?
The Jordans Farm Partnership (JFP) is a UK programme built through a partnership between Jordans, The Wildlife Trust, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF), and the UK oat farms that we partner with (“JFP Farmers”). Through this programme, our JFP Farmers are supported as they grow oats that meet the JFP Standard for use in certain Jordans Cereals (see below for more details on this). It is a working collaboration where each partner brings a different area of expertise to shape the JFP, including habitat creation and restoration knowledge from The Wildlife Trusts, insights on sustainable farming practices from LEAF, and on-the-ground experiences of their own unique farming model from the JFP Farmers.
What is covered under the “JFP Standard”?
Every one of our JFP Farmers agrees that their farm will meet the JFP Standard. The JFP Standard includes a requirement that JFP Farmers receive LEAF Marque certification (read more about this below), as well as meeting additional criteria on wildlife and habitat provision that are specific to the JFP. Specifically, each JFP Farmer works with a dedicated wildlife advisor from their local Wildlife Trust to make sure that at least 10% of their land is managed for wildlife on their farm (the average for the year 2023-2024 was 30%)*.
* Whilst the JFP Farmers are contractually required to manage at least 10% of their land for wildlife, the 2025 report highlighted that the average portion of land managed by JFP Farmers was actually 30%. Please read this report for more details – By working with our JFP Farmers, The Wildlife Trusts and LEAF, the JFP has managed a staggering 4320 hectares for wildlife over the last 10 years!
What does ‘managed for wildlife’ mean?
Managing land for wildlife can include a variety of activities: a wildlife habitat may be created, maintained or restored on a portion of land, depending on the state of the existing habitat. For example land may be maintained so that ground-nesting birds have somewhere to shelter, or grasslands may be created or preserved for beetles. Every farm is different, and every JFP Farmer must work hard at analysing their land to either preserve or create these different wildlife habitats. Luckily, their Wildlife Trust advisor is always on hand to help them make the most of their wildlife habitat. Learn more about what we’ve done with The Wildlife Trusts here www.wildlifetrusts.org.
Each JFP Farmer also identifies at least four focus species for their measures, such as barn owls, brown hares, bees and bats. At the time of writing, according to the latest (2023) State of Nature report* one in six native species face extinction in Great Britain, and the farmland birds that so many of us are familiar with are in decline, an average of 58% decline between 1970 and 2020.
*State of Nature 2023 – report on the UK’s current biodiversity
What is the LEAF-Marque certification?
All JFP farms are required to be LEAF-Marque certified, which means that the JFP Farmers’ practices meet LEAF Marque’s certification requirements. As of 2025, all JFP farms are certified to LEAF Marque Standard Version 16.1.
In LEAF’s words, the LEAF Marque “is a leading global assurance system recognising more sustainably farmed products. LEAF Marque certified businesses have been independently verified against the robust LEAF Marque Standard**.”
The LEAF Marque Standard is a standard which reviews criteria from 9 areas across each farm’s total business, in areas such as soil management and fertility, crop health and protection, water management, and raising public understanding of agriculture in the rural community. You can find out more about LEAF here (leaf.eco) and what is covered by the LEAF-Marque standard here (leaf.eco/leafmarque/standard).
**Quote from LEAF’s website: leaf.eco/leafmarque/about
How does this relate to Jordans products?
Products in the UK and France (except exclusions mentioned below):
Every year, we use annual sales forecasts that enable us to source the amount of oats we need to make our relevant products for sale in UK and French markets. In some rare cases, we need more oats than we forecasted for, in which case we procure oats from the open market.
As part of our oat sourcing process, we follow an industry-standard approach called “mass balance”. This means that the oats we purchase are a blend from different sources. The mass balance approach is common across the food industry – including in cocoa and sugar sustainability programmes – and helps to ensure our supply chain is efficient, but it means that oats from JFP Famers are mixed with oats from other farms during the milling process. As a result, our Jordans products may contain a mix of JFP and non-JFP oats. Rather than diverting resources to building a costly system to segregate the JFP oats, we believe our resources are best invested in the JFP, to support JFP Farmers and help them to protect wildlife habitats.
So, whilst we cannot guarantee that every Jordan’s product contains JFP oats, we’re proud to support farming practices that help to protect wildlife habitats.
International markets (excluding UK and France):
Please note that the oats used in our international products (all markets, excluding UK and France) and our Popped cereals and Granola Thins (all markets) are sourced from the open market. They are not sourced from mass balance supply chains that use JFP Farmer oats.
So that’s The Jordans Farm Partnership! We have to say, we’re very proud of it. By working together with such brilliant farmers & partners, we’re able to not only produce great granola, but help protect nature that needs our help more than ever before.
Reducing food miles
We like to keep things local when we can and over half of our Jordans Farm Partnership oat farmers are within 50 miles of our bakery in Biggleswade. When we do get ingredients from abroad, however, we always look to use sea freight to make sure they’re coming with the lowest impact possible.
Working with The Wildlife Trusts
We work with The Wildlife Trusts as part of a unique collaboration between our brilliant British oat farmers, LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming).
This makes sure that not only are our oats grown sustainably, but that wildlife benefits too. Every one of our 30-odd British oat farmers dedicates at least 10% of their land to wildlife areas (and currently, the average is around 17% of land). They then have a dedicated wildlife advisor from their local Wildlife Trust create a bespoke plan for them to make sure that land is really working for the unique mix of wildlife found on their farm.
Meet our farmers
So how do you make my bowl of cereal good for nature?’ we hear you ask. Well, we got some friends involved. First of all, we work with some brilliant farm partners. People like Guy below.
Giving Back
Guy Tucker
Greenhil Farm Hertfordshire
“I am a happier person as I see wildlife increasing on the farm.”
A third-generation farmer, Guy didn’t feel comfortable with the way that the farm was being managed. He felt it could do more to give back to the landscape that had given his family a livelihood for decades. So, in 2003 he began to farm in a more wildlife-friendly way; establishing grass margins around fields, restoring hedges, introducing crops to help feed wild birds and sowing pollen and nectar rich areas – all providing vital space for wildlife. As a result, Guy saw wildlife returning to his farm and he soon felt happier and more fulfilled farming in this way.
“The largest flock of linnets ever recorded in Hertfordshire”
As a natural next step, Guy became a supplier of oats to Jordans. This helped him to do even more for wildlife and feed his passion for the natural world.
All this has paid off for Guy – following a farmland bird survey, he was delighted to discover that over winter, his farm boasted the largest flock of linnets and bramblings recorded in Hertfordshire!
“The countryside means everything to me – not just growing crops but enhancing the environment for future generations.”
As Nature Intended
Stephen Honeywood
Halls Farm Suffolk
“The countryside means everything to me – not just growing crops but enhancing the environment for future generations.”
Stephen is a farmer who loves the countryside where he lives and believes in enhancing it for future generations. That is why he chose to manage Halls Farm in a way that gives nature the space to follow its own path. Stephen lets hedges thicken and spill out to create wonderful wide scrubby habitat and he sows large areas of farmland with cover crops for wild birds. He doesn’t worry about being over-tidy. This approach has created more habitat and food for wildlife on his farm.
Stephen will happily take time out from farming to install barn owl boxes. He also hosts visitors and groups on his farm to help them understand his management style or to undertake wildlife surveys.
Stephen also manages the adjacent Little Haugh Farm where graceful silver-washed fritillary butterflies, a species of conservation concern, flourish in the woodlands. Thanks to the way that Stephen manages habitat on his farms, this species is now colonising Halls Farm next door. As it spreads, the population of this butterfly will become larger and less vulnerable.
Network of habitats
Nick Rowsell
Manor Farm, Hampshire
“When I’m walking through the crops and I look around me, and everything is great, I have a little moment and think how lucky I am. My favourite sign of summer is when the swallows arrive.”
Nick, a 3rd generation farmer in north-west Hampshire, has been growing oats for Jordans on his family farm for several years.
The farm lies within the tranquil landscape of rolling chalk hills. These chalk grasslands are one of the most threatened in the UK, with vast tracts being lost to intensive agricultural production over the last century. Through the Jordans Farm Partnership and his commitment to wildlife-friendly farming, Nick is helping to reverse this loss by recreating and restoring this important habitat on his farm, benefitting the specialised plants and animals that depend on it.
Alison, Nick’s Wildlife Trust advisor, has supported him in managing his land to provide food, shelter and breeding sites for dormice and rare birds like woodlark and willow tit – wildlife that is important in the local, wider landscape. The farm’s network of woodland, hedgerows, wide field margins and restored chalk grassland also benefit rare arable flowers and grey partridges.
Insects are essential for a healthy farm, with three out of four crops needing them for pollination. Over the years, Nick has perfected his own nectar-rich flower and bird seed mixes, which he grows with as much care and attention as he does the oats that go into our breakfast cereals. This means his farm supports a wide range of insects, including butterflies such as silver-washed fritillary and mining bees. Small mammals also benefit from the grassland and grassy field margins, which in turn provide food for barn owls and kestrels. These birds of prey use the nest boxes that have been put up on trees and farm buildings.
Nick is also committed to looking after the soil on his farm, believing that good profitable farming depends on healthy, well-structured, thriving soil, full of bugs and beetles. Special crops, known as cover crops, are grown at times when the soil would otherwise be left bare, preventing the soil from eroding away. Their deep roots can help loosen up compact soils and maintain soil fungi, which provides vital nutrition for the crops.
Nick’s farm – and a second JFP farm, which he manages, lie within the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust’s Faccombe Woodland to Kingsclere Downs Living Landscape. Within this, the Wildlife Trust is aiming to create more, better managed and joined up wild places, to help nature recover and Nick is playing a vital role in this.
Network of habitats
Graham Birch
Hedge End Farm
“Sometimes when I get out of bed and go up out to the farm and I see the wildlife and see the crops growing, it’s enough to make the heart sing”
Graham Birch runs Hedge End Farm and is passionate about conservation and sustainable farming. Graham works closely with The Wildlife Trusts through the Jordans Farm Partnership to ensure Hedge End Farm is nature friendly and supports wildlife recovery.
He shared some of the many ways they’re doing this:
Wildflowers are at the heart of biodiversity; Wildflowers attract the insects and pollinators; insects attract the small mammals; the small mammals attract the predators therefore creating a full food chain on the farm and truly promoting biodiversity.
Graham has created wildflower highways across the farms to give connected corridors for all wildlife. These networks are so important for wildlife, as without them, wildlife can become isolated. Think of these corridors like roads: without roads, we wouldn’t be able to get to many of our friends and family. It’s the same for wildlife.
The farm also has several corridors of cultivated margins; these margins are left untouched allowing seeds lying dormant in the soil to grow. These cultivated margins provide a good home for lots of insects and bugs in addition to the wildflower corridors.
Areas of land have been left fallow and seeds are planted specifically to provide vital food for birds from January to March when food is most scarce. These areas of land are in between hedgerows and woodland so they’re easy for hungry birds to access.
Graham only cuts hedges every other year to promote the growth of fruits and nuts. These provide great food sources for birds throughout the year. They leave large patches of land in fields uncut so that the wildlife on that land still has a home to live in.
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