As the FARM-NC project moves from data collection into synthesis, we are focusing on participatory systems mapping with farmers. This stage is about building a shared understanding of how farming systems function in practice - before formal modelling or indicator development begins.
Farming systems are shaped by the interaction of ecological processes, management decisions, financial pressures, and policy contexts. Systems mapping allows these relationships to be made explicit, capturing feedbacks, constraints, and dependencies that are often lost in purely quantitative approaches.
This workshop centred on a single guiding question: What does the farming system look like from your point of view? Farmers identified key variables on their farms, including natural assets, inputs and outputs, management decisions, and the conditions required for long term viability.
Participants mapped their farming year to highlight seasonal activities, decision points, and external deadlines. They also described their farms spatially - identifying fields, water sources, hedgerows, infrastructure, machinery, and people that keep the system running. Together, these exercises revealed how pressures and opportunities emerge across both time and landscape.
Key challenges such as weather variability, disease, market uncertainty, and policy requirements were discussed alongside longer term aspirations, including diversification, habitat creation, infrastructure improvements, and succession planning.
Insights from this workshop form the foundation of the FARM-NC systems map. By grounding the project in farmer-led perspectives at this stage, we ensure that subsequent modelling and natural capital accounting reflect real decision contexts and lived experience. Future workshops will expand this map to include policy and institutional perspectives.