Caroline Drummond Scholarship seeks sustainable innovators

Innovative thinkers have been invited to apply for LEAF’s Caroline Drummond Scholarship for Innovation in Sustainability.

The scholarship is in its inaugural year, having been set up to honour the late Caroline Drummond, who led LEAF from its inception in 1991 until her death in 2022 at the age of 58.

Each year, administrators of the Scholarship Fund will award a bursary of up to £25,000 for scientific, technical, or business development projects, which further build on Drummond’s vision of a more environmentally sustainable global farming and food production system.

Specifically, this year, applications for funding are being sought for projects that will scale the adoption and implementation of Integrated Farm Management (IFM) practices, or which enhance understanding of the benefits of incorporating practical regenerative or nature-based sustainability solutions within commercial farming practices.

“Caroline’s enormous legacy was rooted in her inherent understanding of the need to ensure sustainability interventions are pragmatic and deliverable at scale through a commercial farm supply chain,” said LEAF chief executive David Webster. “We remain true to that principle and would encourage applications from any projects that have the potential to help accelerate the adoption of more sustainable farm management practices at scale.

“We want to support new ideas, bright thinking and imaginative projects that will help the farming sector as a whole take action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase soil carbon capture, or sustain habitats for biodiversity in the context of commercial and efficient farming and food production.”

Philip Wynn, LEAF chair, added: “This important scholarship reflects who Caroline was, and all she achieved. As an inspirational thinker, innovator, collaborator and communicator, Caroline was the catalyst of great change in the sustainability of farming through Integrated Farm Management. She dedicated her working life to pushing forward new thinking and approaches to more natured-based farming. She was also deeply committed to developing talent and inspiring the sustainability leaders of the future.”

The scholarship is open to applicants from farmers and farm business owners, as well as universities, institutions, commercial companies and individuals from non-profit organisations and charities. Applications are now open and close on 30 June 2024.