GFA | About Us

About Us

The Game Farmers’ Association (GFA) is the representative body for anyone who rears pheasants or partridges commercially in the United Kingdom.

Typically, these gamebirds are farmed for re-stocking shoots, a practice which has a long history. Indeed the GFA was founded way back in 1907.

Our mission today is to protect and enhance the game farming sector and to develop and encourage the highest standards within the profession.
Membership is voluntary, but around half of the UK’s 300 game farmers belong to the GFA, benefitting from:

Regular updates on new developments and legal changes within their industry
An opportunity to exchange views and trade with other member

There is also an Associate Member category for non-game farmers such as gamekeepers who do not sell on to others but who want to keep well-informed and who appreciate the beneficial work of the association.
The GFA has a Trade Membership scheme, open to businesses who sell products and services to game farmers. A thriving sub set of this is our Veterinary Surgeons category. Virtually every specialist gamebird practice in the UK now belongs to the GFA.

We also have commercial sponsors who assist our important work through bespoke support packages.

What we do ...

Like most trade associations, the GFA is heavily involved with any issue likely to affect its members’ interests or the good conduct of game farming.

We work with game farmers, their vets, their suppliers, the politicians and the civil servants in Europe and the UK who regulate our members’ businesses. We meet regularly with other representative bodies in the shooting sector, which is our primary market, and also with kindred organisations in the poultry industry, with whom our members’ interests often overlap.

This is a big workload but the GFA is a small organisation. Our committee is comprised of members who kindly volunteer their time to help. We have a part-time secretary and retain a political consultant and PR adviser, both part-time also.

The association is a member of FACE (the Federation of EU Hunting Organisations), the Standing Conference on Countryside Sports and Management and RUMA (Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture Alliance). We are also represented on the Council of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, the Poultry Health and Welfare Group and the Shooting Liaison Committee.

Through all these organisations we promote best practice in game farming and we work together to ensure a regulatory framework within which our members’ businesses can thrive.