Livestock farmers are included in the latest phase of the Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme which is being funded to the tune of £1.5 million with additional support being given by AHDB.
The aim is to help small family farms become more viable, building on the success of the Prince’s Dairy Initiative by opening the new programme to small dairy, livestock or mixed farms, complete with the offer of free workshops and one-to-one guidance to 300 farms across the UK.
As part of the new phase, a number of AHDB’s Knowledge Exchange team will act as regional co-ordinators for the programme, being the main contact for their area and recruiting farm businesses, as well as staging and facilitating events.
“Times have been tough across farming sectors for some time now and exceptionally hard for smaller, family-run businesses who don’t necessarily have access to the right advice or resources for their specific situation,” said, AHDB Chief Technical Officer, Richard Laverick.
“We need to give these farms the opportunity and help to focus on their businesses and give them the knowhow to make confident decisions, however tough, on the changes they need to make to ensure their business is sustainable in the long term.”
The programme is offered in Ayrshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, East Sussex, Lanarkshire, Monmouthshire, Northumberland, Powys, Shropshire, Somerset, Yorkshire and Northern Ireland.