Farm Support Groups Initiative
The Royal Countryside Fund is committed to helping Farm Support Groups across the UK to ensure family farms can access locally available, practical help, and opportunities to work together.
Farm Support Groups are deeply rooted within the farming communities they serve.
These local organisations are always there for farmers, providing easily accessible support and new opportunities.
In 2019, feedback from our farmer networks conference showed there was a need for a central coordinator to allow these groups to share knowledge and ease collaboration. Over the past seven years, we’ve created a network of more than 40 Farm Support Groups across the UK, helping these incredible organisations to better collaborate and share knowledge, best practice and advice with each other.
We’re very grateful to the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust and The Dulverton Trust for their generous support for this work.
Farm Support Groups in our FSG Initiative.
Case Study
Emergency RCF funding for farmers impacted by drought and bluetongue
£35,793 in emergency funding
In September 2026 we announced £35,793 of new funding for nine FSGs in affected areas, to allow them to deliver targeted help to farming families dealing with the impacts of drought and bluetongue.
Many groups are using the funding to organise workshops for farmers on bluetongue preparedness and management with experienced vets, looking at how to identify bluetongue, vaccination strategies, movement restrictions and potential impact on breeding sales.
A number of groups are also organising workshops on drought resilience, focusing on how farms can manage water shortages, how best to protect livestock from extreme heat, how to make the best use of forage stocks and feed over the winter, and how to drought-proof farms for the future.
Most groups are also using the funding to support one-to-one visits and access to advisors, as well as more wellbeing-focused events that bring farmers together to support one another, access mental health support, and share ideas.
Find out more here.
Our annual FSG Conference
The RCF’s annual FSG Conference is now in its seventh year.
The event unites organisations from across the UK to network, share knowledge and resources, and discuss the key issues currently facing farming communities.
The 2025 Conference took place in Cumbria and brought together representatives from 23 groups to discuss topics including family farm finances, succession planning, and regenerative farming.
The 2026 Conference will take place in Hampshire in September.
Case Study
How collaboration helps farming communities
1,817 health checks
The RCF’s annual Farm Support Groups Conference provides a rare and valuable opportunity to bring together representatives of farm support groups from across the UK.
At the 2022 conference, a presentation about health checks in auction marts inspired RSABI, to establish their own version in Scotland.
After speaking with Lincolnshire Rural Support Network and Field Nurse – two Farm Support Group Initiative members, which both offer health advice for farming communities – RSABI’s Health Hut initiative launched in 2023
By operating pop-up clinics at auction marts and agricultural shows, the Heath Hut medical staff can offer farmers blood pressure checks and other physical and mental health advice to farmers who might otherwise be too busy to seek it out.
In 2025, the RCF and the Health Lottery Foundation provided further funding, helping the RSABI team to provide health checks to 1,817 farmers across Scotland.
Find out more about this work here.
National Directory of Farm and Rural Support Groups
The directory lists regional, national and membership organisations which can provide support, advice and guidance to farming and rural communities. It also signposts to support for farmers in crisis.