FarmerFirst
Building farmer-governed digital infrastructure to transform the UK food system
A cooperative platform to ensure more of the value farmers create returns to the people who produce our food and the communities around them.
The Challenge
The UK food system is broken. Farmers aren't failing. The system is designed to fail them This is not sustainable economically, environmentally, or socially. Fixing it requires shifting power back to the people who feed us.
£1 billion decline
in Farm incomes in England in 2023 - a loss of 19%
1700 UK Farms
have closed since 2010
£268 billion
spent annually treating diet-related diseases in the UK
11 million people
struggle to afford food in the UK
85% of livestock
live in Intensive Farming Systems in the UK
3 million tonnes
of topsoil is lost every year in the UK
Our Approach
The root cause is structural. Farmers create the value in our food system but consistently earn the smallest share of the food pound. Technology, as currently deployed in food and agriculture, tends to deepen that imbalance, extracting data and profit from farming communities rather than returning value to them.
FarmerFirst exists to change that.
We are advocating for farmer-governed digital infrastructure with a cooperative ownership model that ensures farmers control their data, govern decision-making democratically, and capture a fairer portion of the profit their work generates.
We are also working with those seeking to reform how food is procured and distributed - including local food networks and public procurement initiatives - to build the digital infrastructure that makes shorter, fairer supply chains viable at scale.
Our Vision
- Infrastructure for fairer local supply chains. The most significant opportunity to redirect value back to farmers lies in reforming how food is procured at scale. Schools, hospitals, local authorities, and public institutions spend ~£5 billion on food annually - yet public procurement systems consistently favour large suppliers over local UK farmers. The vision is digital infrastructure that makes it structurally easier for institutions to buy from small scale UK farmers directly, at fair prices, through shorter and more transparent local supply chains. This also ensures the money stays within local communities, boosting local economies.
- Farmer-governed digital ecosystem built on open standards. Central to this vision is a cooperative ownership model where farmers control their data, govern the platform democratically, and retain the value it generates. Critically, the platform must be built on open standards and open infrastructure - ensuring no single technology provider can extract value from the system, that data flows freely between tools and services, and that the architecture serves farmers rather than creating new dependencies.
- Practical tools that build farmer engagement Alongside the platform infrastructure, farmers need practical AI-powered tools that address real, immediate challenges - navigating grant schemes, proving sustainability credentials, benchmarking costs, simplifying regulatory compliance. These are the entry points through which farmers engage with the wider ecosystem and begin to experience technology working in their interest.
Technology should redistribute value, not simply redirect who extracts it
Where We Are Now
FarmerFirst is in its partnership-building and co-design phase and seeking collaborators. We are actively looking to connect with:
UK Nature-Friendly & Regenerative Farmers
Across arable, livestock, horticulture, and mixed operations to co-design tools with us that solve real problems, not theoretical ones.
Your knowledge and experience is the foundation everything else is built on.
UK Farming Networks & Cooperatives
Organisations committed to farmer empowerment, sustainable and regenerative agriculture, and systemic change.
If you are already building farmer community and want digital infrastructure to support it, lets talk.
Local Food Networks & Public Procurement
Organisations and networks working to reform how food is sourced by schools, hospitals, local authorities, and communities.
Those already navigating the structural barriers in public procurement and advocating for change.
Technology Partners
Organisations committed to open standards, interoperable infrastructure, and cooperative ownership models.
Who share the conviction that the architecture of the platform is inseparable from its mission.
Read Our Paper:
Putting Farmers First - Building Digital Infrastructure to Transform the UK Food System
Explores UK food system failures and the economic pressures facing farmers and rural communities, making the case for farmer-governed digital technology as a driver of systemic change and social good.
