Prince’s Countryside Fund offers free workshops and advice
© Tim Scrivener Farmers in England are being offered free business advice through local support groups, organised by the Prince’s Countryside Fund.
Goup workshops and one-to-one support will be provided, and participants will benefit from peer-to-peer learning. The course is set to run until February 2022.
Practical advice is tailored towards beef, sheep, and dairy farms, with a focus on small-to-medium-sized businesses.
See also: Advice for navigating changes in farm support
The Farm for the Future programme is designed to aid farm businesses in decision making following the removal of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
Up to 1,000 farm businesses will be able to take part, with key emphasis on family farms.
The workshops will be offered as part of Defra’s Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF), through which 19 providers are offering free business advice across England.
Where to access the advice
The workshops will take place in 11 locations across England, as well as online.
Further information can be found on the Prince’s Countryside Fund’s website.
Additional support
The fund offers a range of further support to farm businesses in the UK.
There are schemes to help new entrants into farming through bursaries and farm support groups.
The Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme offers farmers free environmental and business skills training to support their businesses.
And the charity’s grant programmes aim to invest £500,000 a year to support rural communities.