Farm for the Future programme visits

Hannah Parry, Senior Project Officer said: “Beth Summers (Senior Programme Manager) and I had a great couple of days visiting several Farm Support Groups in the Midlands and South West, at the beginning of January. We were keen to visit the Delivery Partners running the Farm for the Future programme, funded by Defra’s Future Farm Resilience Fund, and meet farmers to gage the impact of the workshops and 1:1 support.

“We arrived in Somerset on Wednesday to a warm welcome and a delicious lunch at Exmoor Hill Farming Network in Wheddon Cross, Exmoor, followed by a good discussion about what the next phase of the Future Farm Resilience Fund could look like. We then drove down through breathtaking scenery to Princetown in Dartmoor to meet with Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, where we had a really productive meeting focusing on how to best support ‘hard to reach’ farmers.

“Finally, we headed down to Liskeard in Cornwall, to attend an environment workshop delivered by Louise Davies. Louise delivered an engaging and informative presentation, encouraging farmers to consider how the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is likely to affect them, and what they can gain from the new standards. Luckily for us, Sally at Farm Cornwall also provided Cornish pasties and saffron cake, which was very welcome at the end of a long day of travelling.

“Thursday saw us heading up to Shobdon in Herefordshire to meet with Sarah and Martha at Herefordshire Rural Hub. We were joined by Liz, our new Project Officer in the PCF’s farming team, and we sat in on a Farm Resilience Programme cost management workshop delivered by Nigel Davies from Promar International, as well as a Farm for the Future workshop delivered by Kate Speke-Adams from the Wye & Usk Foundation. Both consultants did a fantastic job of tailoring their guidance and advice to the needs of local farmers, with Kate for example going into detail about some of the ways farmers along the Wye river would be affected by upcoming policy changes. Again, it was great to see the programmes in action and meet farmers taking part and engaged in discussions about the future of their businesses.”

Find out more about the programme here.