FRP farmers awarded Countryside Stewardship grant

A group of farmers in the Slaggyford and Alston area who met taking part in our Farm Resilience Programme, supported by The Farmer Network, are pleased to have been successful in their application for a Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund – a government scheme to support environmental education and developments.

The Farm Resilience Programme, our flagship programme of support for farmers, were inspired by a workshop which explored assessing natural habitats. The Farm Resilience Programme offers free business skills and environment training to family farm businesses across the UK, and over the past six years, has supported nearly 1,400 families across the UK.

Seventeen farmers and landowners within the group wanted to continue to look at the potential for environmental schemes and to work together to look at how they might enhance the habitat in their area of the North Pennines.

The Defra Facilitation Fund was established in 2015 and has set up 180 groups with 4,000 members of farmers and land managers, developing their knowledge and skills to improve nature restoration in their local areas. Monitoring and evaluation studies have found that by coordinating action and working together, groups have achieved greater environmental benefits than would be the case from individual actions alone.

Keith Halstead, Executive Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “I am so pleased to hear that the group of farmers have received extra support in their plight to advance their environmental practices. The Prince’s Countryside Fund wants to make a positive difference through helping those who live and work in the countryside, particularly the smaller family farms. Our transformational business training, our practical workshops on the environment and our bespoke support for farmers are needed now more than ever and I encourage farmers to consider signing-up for the programme launching in Autumn 2023.”