The Royal Countryside Fund announces £170,000 of new support for farming groups across the UK

These farm support groups are trusted partners of the RCF and are embedded in the rural communities they serve. This new funding will go towards a range of sustainable projects to help create a successful future for farming families. The RCF’s Farm Support Group Initiative is supported by Waitrose & Partners and the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust.

The nine farm support groups which are receiving RCF funding are:

• Dartmoor Hill Farm Project, which has been awarded £20,000 to allow it to provide trusted and accessible advice to local farmers at a vital time, as they transition from direct payments to the new Environmental Land Management schemes.
• Exmoor Hill Farming Network, which has been awarded £20,000 to fund its programmes to help enhance farmer health and wellbeing, ease rural isolation, and prepare the next generation of local farmers.
• Farm Cornwall, which has been awarded £20,000 to support and advise local farmers on new environmental schemes and continue the charity’s role as a source of support for farmers and their families as they deal with the stresses and strains of the industry.
• Herefordshire Rural Hub, which has been awarded £20,000 to grow the farm support group and further develop its service, so that it can bring its help to more local farmers.
• The Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RSABI), which has been awarded £15,000 to help run its existing programme and manage the delivery of the RCF’s Farm Business Resilience Programme.
• Rural Support, which has been awarded £15,000 to provide more support for family farms across Northern Ireland, to help them weather economic difficulties and combat the rural mental health crisis.
• The Farmer Network Ltd, which has been awarded £20,000 to continue to run a not-for-profit support network, helping farmers across a large area of northern England.
• The Farming Life Centre, which has been awarded £20,000 to invest in their organisation to ensure it continues to meet the needs of farmers in Derbyshire.
• Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services Ltd (UTASS) , which has been awarded £20,000 to continue to fund its activity in the north east of England and allow it to bring vital support to local farmers.

Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Royal Countryside Fund, said: “This funding is about powering-up family farms and giving them the support they need to survive and thrive. Our aim is to support rural communities across the UK, helping to sustain a living landscape of working family farms and prosperous rural life. Farming can be so different across the UK, so it’s important to us that we support locally-run farm support groups who are embedded in the communities they serve and therefore know what will make the biggest difference in their local area.

“Farmers are currently facing a whole raft of challenges and we know it’s a difficult time for so many families, so it’s vital our funding goes to where it will make the most impact. The farm-support groups we’ve chosen to fund are truly innovative and collaborative organisations that are working with their local communities to find new and sustainable ways to build a better future. These are all community-led support groups which can help farmers find the right opportunities, look after their health and wellbeing, and promote sustainable, economic, social and community development.

“I want to thank our supporters and corporate partners who help us fund this change. To all these generous organisations and individuals, I want to say: thank you, your support is making a real difference.”

To find out more about the RCF’s Farm Support Group network, please visit: http://www.royalcountrysidefund.org.uk/farmsupport