Farming families can now access free business support and advice from a number of established organisations following grants awarded from Defra’s Future Farming Resilience Fund.
The Fund makes free expert support and advice available to farmers and land managers in England during the early years of the Government’s Agricultural Transition Period to: understand the changes that are happening; identify how, what and when they may need to adapt their business models, and to access tailored support to adapt their businesses.
The Fund is running across three phases and this is explained in more detail via Defra’s Future Farming blog.
Supporting Yorkshire farmers
Here, we highlight options for farmers to seek Resilience Fund support in Yorkshire. Click on the links below for further details about avenues of support and training.
ADAS – ADAS is offering one day free one-to-one farm business consultancy for farmers and landowners with an experienced ADAS consultant. Consultations can take place on-farm or online. They will work with you to explore what the transition means for your business.
ADAS is also offering a free up to 30-minute phone consultation with a consultant to answer specific questions that can be dealt with over the phone. For more details, email resilience@adas.co.uk or call 03301 755839.
AHDB – Offers one-to-one reviews using the online AHDB Farm Business Review tool for those in the grazing livestock and cereals sectors, with support from an agricultural consultant and a group feedback meeting. Follow on options for in-depth one-to-one support on cost control, business planning and carbon management. For more details, call 02475 189300 or email farmbusinessreview@ahdb.org.uk
Brown&Co – Offering advice across all farm business types provided through individual farmer support via on-farm meetings. This will enable discussion of individual business needs as well as understanding the family and social factors crucial to underpin lasting change and business success. You will receive a report on your business including benchmarking and an action plan. For more details, email defraffr@brown-co.com or call 01480 598875.
The Prince’s Countryside Fund – Its Farm for the Future initiative for the dairy, beef and sheep sectors is a free business and environment programme to help tackle challenges you face and grasp opportunities on offer. Locally delivered, the programme will take a whole farm and whole family approach to help 1,000 family farm businesses.
The programme consists of meetings, online learning, signposting, 1:1 support, peer networking, and learning to groups of farms in 11 locations across England, including in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors, as well as a virtual national group. For more information about the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors groups, contact Veronica Waller at The Farmer Network by emailing veronica@thefarmernetwork.co.uk or for more details about the Durham Dales group, contact Grace Crawford at UTASS (Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services) by calling 01833 641010 or email Grace@utass.org
The Prince’s Countryside Fund has teamed up with The Farmer Network for the Farm for the Future Programme and the Network will host welcome meetings for farmers to find out more on Thursday 28th October at 7pm at The Feathers, Helmsley, YO62 5BH and Monday 1st November at 7pm the Market House, Hawes DL8 3QN. To book a place at the welcome meetings, click here, call the Farmer Network on 01768 868615 or email admin@thefarmernetwork.co.uk
JH Agri Consultancy – Available for livestock farmers in North Yorkshire, it is offering one-to-one support for beef and sheep farms, delivered by James Hadwin of JH Agri consultancy, Rhidian Jones of RJ Livestock systems and Ian Cairns of Agrifood technical services. Places are limited, email jhadwin@jhagriconsultancy.co.uk or call 07739 176667.
Kite Consulting – A Steps to Success training programme involves one-to-one farm visits and farmer group meetings to look at how to: minimise the impact of changing subsidies on farm businesses, share best practice and signposting to relevant guidance and support. This support is targeted for dairy farmers. Register your interest by contacting Kite Consulting on 01902 851007 or email enquiries@kiteconsulting.com
Land Workers’ Alliance – Advice available for farmers in the following sectors: medium to large scale horticulture (above 5 hectares), SME dairy production, SME red meat production and mixed farming systems. Support on offer includes a transition toolkit, one-to-one advice and peer support, and farmer-to-farmer webinars. For more details, call 07875 849754 or email jyoti.fernandes@landworkersalliance.org.uk
Promar International – Tailored one-to-one advice for farms in the dairy, beef and sheep sectors. Eligible farmers and land managers can access a free review of their business with one of Promar’s consultants. For more details, email sandra.callwood@genusplc.com or call 07971 118688.
Ricardo – Offering free resilience planning webinars this Autumn with Joe Scarratt from The Andersons Centre and Mark Thomas from the Farming Community Network, covering the latest information about the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme and what a resilience planning process looks like, from examining your business, showing you what the best businesses do, and planning for future success, as well as tips for managing stress and wellbeing.
Booking is essential. To reserve your place, click on the date of your preferred 90-minute session: Monday 1st November at 7pm, Thursday 4th November at 7pm, Tuesday 9th November at 2pm, Tuesday 9th November at 7pm, Wednesday 10th November at 10am, Wednesday 10th November at 2pm.
Ricardo is also offering detailed business reviews, with specialist business advisers from Andersons supporting farmers to identify potential risks and opportunities. Limited availability remaining. To register, click here. For more details, contact the Ricardo Future Farming Resilience Project team on 01235 753530 or email FFRF@ricardo.com
