The Prince’s Countryside Fund invests over £600,000 in inspiring Countryside Initiatives
The Prince’s Countryside Fund has announced today, during National Countryside Week, that it will be investing over £600,000 in valuable rural projects, which are working to protect and sustain the British countryside.
The Prince’s Countryside Fund has announced today, during National Countryside Week, that it will be investing over £600,000 in valuable rural projects, which are working to protect and sustain the British countryside.
The Prince’s Countryside Fund, which has contributed £4.4 million in grants in the four years since its inception, was set up by HRH The Prince of Wales to provide support to the multitude of remarkable organisations and individuals working tirelessly to keep farmers farming and our rural communities alive. What makes the Fund unique is that it doesn’t support the environment, buildings or wildlife but the people who manage and maintain the countryside.
- £50,000 to Growing Rural Enterprise will help between 40-60 rural businesses to start, develop and grow. It will help farmers who are struggling to be sustainable by looking at their existing resources and exploring new ways of working.
- £49,788 will support 54 rural communities to set up new community owned services that meet local needs – The Plunkett Foundation will promote ‘community ownership’ as a solution for rural communities that have lost or are at risk of losing vital local services.
- £50,000 to Duchy College, a nationally renowned specialist land-based college, will engage and train over 1,300 young people in activities designed to progress them into local sustainable jobs within the food and farming industry.
Helen Aldis, Manager at The Prince’s Countryside Fund, explains; “These grants will help to maintain and support a sustainable farming and rural community in Britain through the provision of vital education and training, which will not only equip young people will the skills required to succeed in important rural careers, but also provide existing farmers and rural businesses with much needed financial and business support to remain viable and grow.
“The projects we are funding aim to tackle some of the challenges our rural communities are facing. The farming industry has warned of a skills shortage if the 60,000 new entrants we need in the next decade are not found. We must also grasp the opportunity to increase the quantity of British produced food to reduce our reliance on imported food which is currently at 40%.
“The Prince’s Countryside Fund with the help of our marvellous supporting companies is proud to support the people, organisations and communities working to protect and ensure a long-term future for British farming, agriculture and the wider rural economy.”
Since 2010, The Prince’s Countryside Fund has given grants to support 140 rural communities by improving service provision, 3,400 farm businesses through funding projects that work directly with farmers to improve efficiency and profitability and 880 rural enterprises through supporting innovative rural business projects. 4,380 young people have benefitted from projects offering training opportunities and 18,000 children will be educated in food and farming in a sustainable countryside.
New grants for July 2014:
Duchy College (Addresses: Access to training opportunities for young people) South West £50,000
Duchy College, a nationally renowned specialist land-based College, is the lead applicant on behalf of a consortium of 22 food and farming sector employers across Cornwall and Devon. The Nurturing Excellence project aims to engage over 1,300 young people in activities designed to progress individuals into local sustainable jobs within the food and farming industry. An industry seconded Food Business Co-ordinator will co-ordinate four industry focused programmes designed to equip young people with the skills, aptitudes and ambitions to meet local employer needs contributing to the sustainability of the rural community.
Website:http://www.duchy.ac.uk/
The Farmer Network (Addresses: Access to training opportunities for young people) North West £34,136
The Farmer Network covers Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales and aims to maintain and support a viable farming community, maximising rural income, and inform and educate, raising the profile of farming in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales. This project will help to fund the existing training voucher project, currently funded by The Prince’s Countryside Fund to benefit Farmer Network members aged 15-40 by offering a £200 voucher to subsidise the cost of technical training to help farmers meet the costs of certified courses such as ATV, tractor driving and pesticides use.
Website:http://www.thefarmernetwork.co.uk/
Taste Cumbria (Addresses: Low farming incomes) North West – Cumbria £50,000
Taste Cumbria is a food tourism initiative with the aim to increase visitor spend on local food and raise awareness about Cumbria’s iconic produce. Building on existing work which has been supported by The Prince’s Countryside Fund they will identify, recruit and mentor Herdwick Sheep Breeders’ Association (HSBA) members to lead and take ownership of the project, ensuring its future sustainability, and a better, more realistic change of tackling low farming incomes. The funding will directly benefit 50 businesses.
Website:http://www.tastecumbria.com/
The Plunkett Foundation (Addresses: Rural isolation) National £49,788
The Plunkett Foundation was established to help rural communities tackle the problems they face by working together through co-operative action. This new initiative will support 54 rural communities towards setting up new community owned services that meet local needs – ‘Enterprising Rural Communities’. It will promote ‘community ownership’ as a solution for rural communities that have lost or are at risk of losing services that are identified as needed by local people by providing a range of support including mentoring, study visits, generalist advice, specialist advice and training
Website: http://www.plunkett.co.uk/
Grampound Village Store (Addresses: Rural isolation) South West £19,000
Funding has been granted to open a community-owned and run shop and coffee shop to replace the facilities lost when the last general store in the village closed in 2013. The shop staffed by volunteers will be an outlet for local produce and provide a social hub for the community.
Foundation for Common Land (Addresses: Low farming incomes) Scotland and Wales £46,000
The Foundation for Common Land is a self-help, national organization set up to support the continuation of active grazing on common land. This project will roll out a training programme that has already been piloted in Dartmoor and Cumbria to Scotland and Wales with partnership organisations Forgotten Landscape Project and Bangor University in Wales and the Scottish Crofters Federation to enable conservation professionals to update their knowledge of hill farming systems. The pilot initiative was funded by The Prince’s Countryside Fund in January 2012. This project will deliver on-farm training in hill farming to 40 Conservation Professionals in Wales and 40 Conservation Professionals in Scotland.
Website: http://www.foundationforcommonland.org.uk/
Farm Cornwall CIC (Addresses: Low farming incomes) South West £49,585
Farm Cornwall serves small family farms in West Cornwall who are struggling financially with high levels of poverty and isolation. This grant will enable the continuation of the work already being funded by The Prince’s Countryside Fund by offering crisis support and solution management, farm support, farm and ICT training, administration and compliance.
At least 200 farmers will be supported.
Website:http://www.farmcornwall.co.uk/
SRUC (Addresses: Low farming incomes) Yorkshire £49,800
The aim of Scotland’s Rural College is to enhance the rural economy and environment by providing education and training, advisory and consultancy work on an extensive range of subjects with particular emphasis on food, environment and rural resource. This project will support 15 farm businesses in the Yorkshire Dales with a detailed business review. An additional 28 farmers will receive one to one support and 60 more will attend meetings to form a collaborative working group longer-term.
Website:http://www.sruc.ac.uk/
Bamford Community Society (Addresses: Decline in rural communities) East Midlands £10,290
Funding from The Prince’s Countryside Fund will be used to support the creation of a sustainable farmers market in the village of Bamford with a population of 1,241. The project aims to ensure people in the local community have access to good quality and affordable local produce. It will also provide a food box service to those who are not able to access the market due to health and mobility issues. It will also provide local producers with a direct outlets to customers.
Lochbroom Woodfuels Ltd (Addresses: Access to training opportunities for young people) Scotland £20,217
Lochbroom Woodfuels is a social enterprise based Ullapool, in the Scottish Highlands, established in 2012 to tackle two major social problems in the Highland Region: fuel poverty and rural youth unemployment. The purpose of the project is to provide training opportunities 120 young people from Water Ross and West Sutherland in crofting, fish-farming and forestry.
Website:http://www.lochbroomwoodfuels.com/
Papworth Trust (Addresses: Access to training opportunities for young people) Wales
£33,710
This project is to support activity Kerry Farm near Newton, Powys one of the locations of this national charity established in 1917 to work with disabled adults and young people. It aims is to provide training in rural skills and opportunities to develop business skills to local young people. At rural training days experts from the local farming community will train the small staff team and local young people in rural skills including fencing, hedge-laying, coppicing, rare breeds and chicken husbandry. They also plan to implement a ‘Chickens at Home’ scheme to enable trainees to run a mini-market garden stall and develop their business skills.
Website: http://www.papworthtrust.org.uk/
Ulster Farmers’ Union (Addresses: Disconnect with the countryside) Northern Ireland £50,000
The Ulster Farmers’ Union represents farmers and growers in Northern Ireland. Funding has been awarded for the continued support of Open Farm Weekend, an event aimed to reconnect consumers to the supply chain and tell the story of farm to fork. The funding will be used to help recruit and train farmers and to produce farm resources such as story boards and signage to increase participation of children and young people.
Website:http://www.ufuni.org/
Pub is the Hub (Addresses: Decline of rural communities) National £50,000
Established in 2001 Pub is the Hub encourages owners, local authorities, licensees and communities to work together on projects to retain essential rural services, wherever possible relocating them within a public house. The funding will continue to deliver projects via seven Regional Advisory Hubs and Local Community Services Champions programmes with the aim of progressing schemes in Norfolk, Kent, Devon, Wiltshire, Skipton/Craven and Richmondshire.
Website: http://www.pubisthehub.org.uk/
Growing Rural Enterprise (Addresses: Low farming incomes) East Midlands £50,000
Growing Rural Enterprise helps rural businesses to start, develop and grow. They help farmers who are struggling to be sustainable by looking at their existing resources and exploring new ways of working. They help farmers create business development plans and milestones to allow them to achieve realistic business goals. The project will provide business mentoring for 40 -60 farms. They will also hold networking events to showcase interesting business ideas for upland farmers and succession planning seminars.
Website:http://www.growingruralenterprise.co.uk/
