Bringing farming and nature together - meet NFFN Cymru manager Rhys Evans

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Rhys speaks about how he combines working on his family farm with lobbying for a more nature-friendly farming future with the NFFN

Rhys Evans holds a unique position within the Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), combining his role as NFFN Cymru manager with life as a farmer on his family’s land in North Wales.

Raised on Hengwrt Farm, located near Dolgellau, at the southern end of Eryri, Rhys admits that growing up he never imagined he would one day farm the land himself. “I definitely preferred doing other things than farming, like playing football, listening to music or watching wrestling,” he recalls. “I would help out with jobs on the farm, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it - perhaps because I didn’t really understand or appreciate why we farmed the way we did.”

Rhys studied geography at Aberystwyth University, followed by a Master’s degree in sustainable environmental management at Bangor University. It was during his postgraduate studies that he first began exploring the relationship between nature conservation and farming. His break into conservation came soon after, spending two summers as an assistant warden on nature reserves near his hometown as part of a programme for Welsh-speaking graduates.

After completing his Master’s, Rhys joined Natural Resources Wales (NRW), first as a planning casework officer and later as a conservation officer, working on Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protection Areas (SPAs). It was in this role that his passion for nature really took hold.

“Growing up, I wasn’t that interested in nature and the environment,” he admits. “But I learned so much from my colleagues at NRW, especially about how to identify plants. My team leader even challenged me to spot and identify 100 bird species in a year. I used to play a lot of Pokémon, so I saw it as a real-life version of the game! I’m really grateful to everyone I worked with there.”

During his three years in the role, Rhys also gained valuable experience working with farmers, as many of the designated sites were located on upland farms. “I developed a better understanding of how grazing livestock and habitat management fit together,” he says.

A stint in Cardiff, working on the development of Wales’ post-Brexit agricultural support, gave Rhys a solid grounding in policy. At the same time, however, he felt an increasing desire to return home and reconnect with his farming roots. He eventually took on the running of Hywel Dda, the farm once managed by his grandad.

Both his farming and professional experiences convinced Rhys that a nature-friendly approach was the right path for him. “There’s always this perception that farming is hard work and hard to make a living from, and while I wouldn’t want to downplay that, I also felt there was so much opportunity and positivity in an approach that encouraged nature rather than pushing production to the limit.”

Rhys is grateful to his father for never pressuring him or his brother to go into farming, saying it allowed them “to grow to love it organically”. Today, Rhys manages Hywel Dda while his younger brother farms at Hengwrt. There have been substantial changes at Hywel Dda: repairing dry-stone walls and fences, establishing hedgerows to create smaller fields, planting trees and restoring peatland - all while slightly increasing sheep numbers. The next step will be to introduce cattle, though that will require investment in new infrastructure first.

“It has been a really interesting experience because often conservationists think less livestock is better for habitat management. In some cases this is true because farmers were once paid per head of livestock and that encouraged overstocking,” Rhys explains. “But at Hywel Dda there has actually been undergrazing, leading to a lot of rank vegetation. So, we’re actually able to increase production on the farm while still carrying out valuable work for nature.”

Having previously been involved with the NFFN during his time at RSPB Cymru, Rhys immediately recognised the newly created Cymru manager role as the ideal opportunity for him. “I just thought it was perfect,” he remembers. “It had the policy aspects I had been working on in Cardiff but it was also about working directly with farmers and driving real change - supporting those already doing great things and encouraging others to embark on that journey. It brought together all the elements of my previous roles that I had really enjoyed into one job.”

As NFFN Cymru manager, Rhys describes his role as falling into three main areas: policy and advocacy, knowledge exchange and strategy. On the policy side, he leads NFFN Cymru’s work to increase awareness of and support for nature-friendly farming in the Senedd. His knowledge exchange work centres on overseeing a regular calendar of events, farm walks and training opportunities, giving people the chance to visit nature-friendly farms and learn directly from those already working in this way. The strategic side of the job involves raising the NFFN’s profile and growing its membership, with the support of the farmers on the NFFN Cymru steering group.

A distinctive element of the NFFN, compared with Rhys’ previous roles, is the emphasis on making the business case for nature-friendly farming. “Farms are businesses that need to turn a profit, so it’s vital that we don’t just rely on goodwill and asking farmers to look after nature because it’s the right thing to do,” Rhys says. “We explain, for example, how mixed-species swards can improve soil health but also fix nitrogen, which could save farmers money because they won’t have to use as much bagged chemical fertiliser.”

Rhys believes it is vital to have an organisation like the NFFN which is, in his words, “a farming organisation with a passion for nature, not the other way round.” Having also worked in conservation, he understands how differently NFFN’s call for change can be received. “When nature organisations propose reforms, it can be easy for the industry to push back because those people won’t have their livelihoods directly affected,” he says. “Whereas when we call for policies that reward nature-friendly farmers, we can’t just be dismissed because we are farmers ourselves.”

As a farmer, Rhys often has the chance to bring a practical, hands-on perspective to his work. “Sometimes, when I’m speaking at events, I decide it might resonate better with the audience if I also wear my farmer hat,” he says. “We’ve hosted discussions with Senedd members on the farm. It’s great to be able to use the farm in my work as an example of what farming can do for nature.”

That dual position, though, can sometimes be challenging. Rhys’ biggest test so far came when steering the organisation’s public position on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), which provoked strong opposition from more conventional farming unions and sparked mass protests in Cardiff.

“You have to be quite brave and aware of the context you’re operating in when something like that happens,” he reflects. “It was a period of heightened tension in Wales and within the farming industry. For me, the biggest challenge was that it threatened to create a divide between farming and the environment. Tree planting, for example, was being spoken about really unfavourably, yet trees can bring huge benefits to farms. The political backdrop to the SFS fueled discussions that I don’t think were helpful for farming, conservation or nature. It should never be a battle between producing food and protecting nature.”

Unsurprisingly, Rhys’ advice to young people interested in either field is to learn something about the other. “I think budding environmentalists would really benefit from spending time on a farm if possible, and really get to know farmers,” he says. “I think it would help them to understand farming’s role in the rural economy and the symbiotic relationship nature and agriculture have traditionally had in Wales, even if that relationship has been strained by intensification in recent decades.

“Similarly, you still hear voices suggesting that nature-friendly farming isn’t proper farming - and young farmers should definitely ignore them. There’s strong political and public appetite for this approach, and even those farmers who don’t take Government support and instead sell to supermarkets will be under pressure to adopt it, because retailers will have to demonstrate their sustainability credentials. Nature-friendly farming is the way to go.”

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