Why us?
In food, farming and sustainability, context matters. Decisions are shaped by policy, public perception, economics and lived experience, often all at once.
We combine sector understanding with research rigour, ensuring insight is not only technically sound but genuinely useful in the environments where it will be applied.
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We partner with organisations working across agriculture, food production, land use and sustainability. Some come to us with a defined research brief, others with a question that needs shaping.
In both cases, we work collaboratively, acting as an extension of your team to ensure insight translates into action.
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We start with the question, not the method.
Rather than defaulting to a particular approach, we work with you to define what needs to be understood, what risks need to be explored and what confidence looks like.
The result is research that is proportionate, defensible and aligned with real-world outcomes.
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Strong research depends on meaningful participation.
Through our specialist communities and recruitment networks, we engage farmers, supply chain actors and consumers who are often underrepresented in mainstream panels.
This ensures insight is grounded in real experience, not convenience samples.
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Our reporting focuses on what matters.
We are transparent about limitations, confident in our methodology and clear in how findings should be interpreted. Where evidence is mixed or uncomfortable, we say so.
Clients value this independence, particularly in politically or commercially sensitive environments.
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We are comfortable working alongside internal insight teams, agencies, academics and policymakers.
Sometimes we lead. Sometimes we support. In all cases, we aim to strengthen your capacity to make informed decisions long after the project ends.
Why us?
Grounded Research was founded to better understand the people who shape our food system, from those producing and supplying food to those buying and influencing it.
For over three decades, we’ve worked across agriculture, land use and sustainability, delivering research that combines rigour with sector understanding. We believe good research should be clear, honest and genuinely useful, not simply technically correct.
Our work supports organisations navigating complexity, change and competing priorities, helping them move forward with confidence.
Grounded Research was established in 1994 with a clear focus on engaging hard-to-reach audiences within food and farming. Since then, the sector has evolved significantly, and so have we.
Here are some of the milestones that have shaped our journey.
1994
England Marketing was founded by Jan England at her kitchen table. As a farmer’s wife, Jan recognised that the food and farming sector was often overlooked by mainstream research agencies, despite being fundamental to the UK economy. Starting with phone interviews and a determination to better understand rural audiences, the business quickly built a reputation for insight grounded in real-world experience.
1997
As the business grew, Jan made a deliberate decision to focus on food and farming rather than the high-tech companies emerging around Cambridge. It was a sector she understood deeply and where she could see a clear gap for high-quality, independent research that reflected the realities of rural life and agricultural businesses.
1998–2002
Demand for research in the sector grew quickly. The team expanded and the business moved through a series of temporary offices as it outgrew its original home, reflecting steady growth and increasing demand from organisations across the agricultural and food industries.
2003
The agency moved into a purpose-built office in a converted barn on the family farm, supported by European funding. The space provided a permanent home for the growing team and reinforced the company’s roots within the farming community it served.
2006
As the business matured, Jan began collaborating with consultants and investing in new technologies to strengthen the agency’s qualitative research capabilities. Early adoption of tools such as Perception Analyzer from the USA and biometric testing including collaborations with universities, allowed the team to explore attitudes and decision-making in more sophisticated ways.
2018
European funding enabled the business to expand its footprint and create The Research Hub, a dedicated facility for sensory testing and food research. The extension doubled the size of the office and allowed the team to conduct structured product testing and sensory studies for food and drink clients.
2020
Jan’s daughter Clare joined the business on a temporary basis during the Covid pandemic, but quickly discovered a passion for research. With a background in marketing and communications, she pivoted into the research profession, gaining qualifications with the Market Research Society and later completing a postgraduate qualification in Behavioural Science at the University of Warwick.
2024
To mark the agency’s 30th anniversary, England Marketing rebranded as Grounded Research. The rebrand reflected both the company’s roots in the food and farming sector and the evolution of its capabilities. The business relocated and relaunched with an expanded team and new expertise in statistical analysis, qualitative research and behavioural science.
2025
The “What Keeps Farmers Awake at Night” study reached its first 1,000 farmer responses. Designed as an ongoing sentiment tracker for the UK farming community, the research provides a long-term view of the challenges and pressures facing agriculture, ensuring farmers’ voices remain central to conversations about the future of the sector.
Our team brings together experienced researchers with deep knowledge of food, farming and sustainability. We combine methodological rigour with sector fluency, allowing us to ask better questions and interpret answers in context.
An ear to the ground with thoughts, reflections and updates from our team on food, farming, sustainability and the environment.
