59,000 lottery grant will help Shropshire farmers plough on

Farmers and landowners in some of the most remote areas of Shropshire will be given the support they need to improve their livelihoods with the help of a 59,207 grant from the Big Lottery Fund.

Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership has secured the grant for its Shropshire Hills Farming Project which will address problems affecting farmers such as falls in income, excessive bureaucracy and regulation, changes in farm management and isolation.

It will open doors for farmers to gain advice and grant funding for the development of their businesses, reduce their carbon footprint and lead to more viable farming in the area.

Activities will include community events such as farm tours and talks to increase children’s understanding of farming communities, supporting farmers or members of their families to become ‘champions’ to represent their community and increasing the farming communities involvement with all helper agencies to combat isolation and stress.

The project will especially benefit the more isolated and vulnerable farmers working in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty; Stiperstones and Long Mynd, Clun Valley and Clee Hills. These are areas where the average farm income is significantly lower than the national average for England.

Clare Fildes, Development Officer at Shropshire Hills AONB Partnership, said: Upland farming underpins rural communities in the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but with growing financial and administrative pressures, making a living on marginal ground is increasingly difficult and stressful.

The Big Lottery Fund grant will enable us to employ a farming specialist who can develop strong links with farmers and their families in the most difficult upland areas of the Shropshire Hills; helping those who are most isolated and vulnerable. We will also be able to improve relationships between farming and the rest of the community, improving understanding and respect. I am delighted the bid was successful and look forward to working with the Big Lottery Fund to deliver the project.

The grant comes from BIGs Reaching Communities programme which aims to help those most in need and build stronger communities. Across the West Midlands today, six projects are sharing in a total of 1,195,830.

John Taylor, Big Lottery Funds Head of the West Midlands region, said: This project will reassure farmers that they are not alone there are organisations out there who can provide them with independent, practical and local advice to support them with the challenges they face. I wish them the very best of luck with their project for the year ahead.

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out half the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over 25 billion has now been raised and more than 330,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.