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.