Fresh Start (another Parish post article)

View from the Farm!
This month as well as trying to do the end of year accounts, I have been trying to get to grips with what is happening with new entrants in the UK. To make things more complicated different approaches have been taken in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland which reflects the different subsidy systems in each area. The one thing they are all agreed on is that farming needs new entrants and that they need some support to succeed.
I had the opportunity to talk to the national coordinator of Fresh Start, an organisation that was launched in December 2004 by Sir Donald Curry and aims to secure future for farming in England by a whole raft of measures. To make life easier these are listed below:
• Promoting an entrepreneurial culture amongst the next generation of farm business owners
• Promoting the use of generic business planning and management techniques.
• Promotion of farming as an attractive career option for new entrants.
• Development of a ‘matching service’ that will link potential new entrants to those wishing to reduce their involvement or wishing to retire.
• Development of a national mentoring capability for all new/growing farm enterprises.
• Practical support for a continued professional development culture to be adopted by everybody working in the industry.
A year after the initiative was launched the concept of Fresh Start Academies was launched. These Academies run across the country and typically involve training in business skills, mentoring and then identifying opportunities through a matchmaking network.
To date around 30 Academies have been running at different times and a number of graduates had managed to secure tenancies. But all these academies are run on a shoestring with some areas managing to secure some funding from local sources and most of the professional time being given for free. These professional include land agents, Solicitors, accountants, consultants and land managers. DEFRA have backed the initiative, however currently it only has provided funding for the next three months, even though the development of new entrants was part of the food strategy announced by Hilary Benn back in January. This funding is enough for administration and employment of a national coordinator for 20 hours a week, not many hours to cover the whole of England.
So is it working? Well I believe the academies are working but they are not yet making a big difference to number of new farmers. So far the matching of opportunities seems to be treated with suspicion in the UK, although it has had some success in USA and France. Inspiring new entrants seems not approached yet, but in the coming year there are to be some work with careers advisors and teachers. Then there is the money, in my experience it is the biggest hurdle and nobody seems to be even talking about the low interest loans and loan guarantees that are available in France.
So where do the farmers come in? Well there are farmer stakeholders involved with the academies but they are outnumbered by those professionals and farming as an industry is not contributing anything in the way of money. I believe that unless farmers themselves get involved in the initiative then it will not result in success. Who better to mentor a young farmer than a local neighbour and what a difference lending a piece of equipment or helping out when things are going wrong makes when you are struggling to get a business of the ground. Thinking up a way of organising that such of help could take some time!
This Article was published in Drewsteignton Parish Post in May.