Meeting urges greater
agri-collaboration
09/02/05
Farmers, funding bodies and advisers got together at a meeting
near Penrith, Cumbria on Tuesday (February 8) in an effort to foster
greater collaboration in times of change for the agricultural industry.
The meeting at UCLAN's Newton Rigg Campus was called by Cumbrian
organisation Rural Futures which since its formation almost three
years ago has been encouraging farmer collaboration and farmers
to take responsibility for their own future as well as providing
support for groups and individuals.
The purpose of the event, which was addressed by former NFU president
Sir Ben Gill, was to establish a farmer-network - at the request
of local farmers - bringing together local farmer groups who in
turn could support each other by improving technical efficiency,
maintaining traditional skills, improving business efficiency,
prices and better marketing.
Will Rawling, one of Rural Futures' team of co-ordinators, told
the meeting that farmers were already collaborating under the organisation's
umbrella.
"We already have between 25 and 30 groups involving around
500 farmers who have taken responsibility for their own future
through local group activity," he said.
"A proportion are keen to also take on the responsibility
to improve the process of grass roots involvement in how Cumbrian
farms are supported in future."
He explained that the purpose of the wider network involving advisers
and funding bodies was to identify, using proper evidence from
local farmers, the long term needs of the different farming sectors.
The next step would be to prepare a sustainable development plan
with the CLA and NFU which recommended how these needs should be
met. This plan would be updated on a regular basis.
This plan could then be used to encourage public support in a
more co-ordinated manner, better matched to need.
"We want to involve more local farmers in having a regular
dialogue with Rural Futures staff, informing and educating local
farmers about its work. We also want to inform and educate the
general public."
Work is planned to start immediately collecting evidence of needs,
working with agencies where relevant.
By July a draft development plan will be sent to organisations
for comment with a view to completing the plan by the end of August
with the network formalised in the autumn.
Rural Futures is supported under the England Rural Development
Programme by the Defra European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee
Fund. For more information call 01768 896511. Rural Futures:
The aims of the Rural Futures project is to assist the farming
community in Cumbria to respond to the need for change, support
farmers to help them change and to foster increased collaboration
amongst farmers.
The project has a team of coordinators drawn from the farming
community; their role is to help farmers and their families to
improve their businesses, working jointly with other farmers, involving
other experts if needed.
Currently, there are some 25 farmer groups being assisted by the
Rural Futures network in Cumbria, including groups that are developing
new markets for meat, milk products and breeding animals and also
groups looking to improve efficiency through sharing machinery
and improving technical knowledge.
Rural Futures was set up by Voluntary Action Cumbria in April
2002 and will run through to July 2006. This project is supported
under the England Rural Development Programme by the Department
for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and the European Agricultural
Guidance and Guarantee Fund.
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