This website outlines everything you need to know about the Future Farming Resilience project.
Future Farming Resilience Project
The Future Farming Resilience Project aims to support the farming community transition from the Direct Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) towards the governments new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) by providing free, expert advice that is tailored to unique farming businesses. Access an overview of the Environmental Land Management Scheme.
Future Farming Resilience Funding
Devon County Council has been awarded Future Farming Resilience Funding by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to run this project from October 2022 to March 2025 across the Great South West, which describes the region that Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Isles of Scilly and Somerset are in.
One farmer who has benefited from the Future Farming Resilience programme is South Devon farmer Hannah Reddaway and her family.
Fully funded support
Through this business support scheme, a range of free, fully funded support is available, and is described in more detail below on this website. You can also find out more about this support through accessing the Business Information Point (BIP) website, as BIP are the lead delivery partners for the FFR project.
To be the first to out find out about updates to the Future Farming Resilience Project being delivered across the Great South West, please sign up to BIP’s mailing list.
Information workshops
These sessions inform farmers, landowners, and their families of the changes in support during the Agricultural Transition.
The changes mainly describe the transition from the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) support to payment for public goods and the various supporting grant schemes through the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS).
These sessions outline how to handle the reduction of BPS payments, discuss the new grant schemes available through ELMS, and assess options for the future.
All available workshops include a free buffet and refreshments.
Use BIP’s website to book a free information workshop.
One-to-one tailored support
For information workshop attendees that want to further explore how the proposed changes will affect their unique businesses, business advisors will work with the farm to do a detailed business analysis and calculate the reductions in BPS over 2021-2027 period and the subsequent impact on business profitability.
The business advisor will support the farm to explore the options open to them as the changes affect their business and create a bespoke action plan, these can be carried out in-person or remotely.
To request one-to-one tailored support, please contact BIP either by calling them at 0800 592872 or emailing them at team@businessinfopoint.co.uk.
Specialist workshops
Themes that are addressed through information workshops and one-to-one support sessions will be further explored in workshops, covering themes such as:
- Exiting the farming industry
- Woodland creation
- Farm/family succession planning
- Business diversification
- Productivity actions
- Environmental schemes
- Business planning and cashflows
- Marketing
- Grant schemes
These specialist workshops will begin at the start of 2023. To be the first to find out when and where the specialist workshops will take place, please subscribe to BIP’s mailing list.
Digital workshops
Digital agency & social enterprise Cosmic will be providing training to improve digital skills, which includes free workshops and one-to-one advice, all featuring training to help build your digital confidence and help support you in running the farm business.
This can include making applications and requesting payments for:
- Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements.
- Submitting tax online to HMRC.
- Promoting a diversified farm using social media, Google, or paid online advertising.
The sessions are delivered in a no-nonsense, practical, and supportive manner, free of jargon!
These sessions aim to:
- Help to identify your digital technology needs from the very basics through to advanced skills.
- Provide training from highly skilled practitioners, who have years of experience, and the proven ability to tackle digital and technology challenges.
- Support you in a uniquely kind, friendly, and inspiring way.
- Grow your confidence and trust in technology in a safe and responsible way.
- Increase your confidence, reduce isolation, and improve digital literacy.
To book onto a free information workshop, please go to BIP’s website.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible for the free tailored business support during the agricultural transition period you must:
- be a farmer or landowner (minimum land threshold is 5 hectares) based in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Isles of Scilly or Somerset
- be currently in receipt of BPS payments
- not be participating in any other DEFRA-funded Future Farming Resilience Projects
Project delivery
The project will provide resilience support to farmers and land managers to help them prepare for, and adjust to, the Agricultural Transition by addressing the opportunities it presents and the impacts that the Agricultural Transition could have for the farming community.
To find out more about the support being provided by DEFRA for the farming community, please visit DEFRA’s Future Farming blog on the GOV.UK website.
DEFRA are blogging about their progress, sharing details about the developments in the support provided. To keep up to date with these developments and the support provided, you can subscribe to the Future Farming blog.
To keep updated with the wider developments taking place within DEFRA, please sign up to DEFRA’s e-alerts.
Rural Support and Wellbeing
The Rural Support and Wellbeing (RSW) project aims to raise awareness of the rural wellbeing support services available to the farming community, through specialist workshops and representation at rural events. These events include but are not limited to livestock markets and agricultural shows.
The RSW project is delivered by the Heart of the South West (HotSW) Trading Standards service. Due to the rural nature of the South West, advice, guidance and enforcement on animal health, welfare and disease control is a high priority for HotSW Trading Standards.
A key aspect of the project is working in partnership. Here are some of the key partnerships in the project:
- Future Farming Resilience programme: funding provided through FFR programme to continue delivering RSW project, which launched in 2020 as high-priority work through the HotSW Trading Standards Farming Partnership (TSFP)
- Rural support services: working in conjunction with the Rural Crime Police, FCN, RABI, and the NFU to deliver the ‘Farming Support Hub’ which is a one-stop shop for all rural support services in one geographical locality at livestock markets and agricultural shows.
- Public Health: Working in partnership with the Public Health Outreach Team in Devon and Somerset to provide support at regular Livestock Markets in the form of a Farming Health Hub.
- Cornwall Trading Standards and Dorset Trading Standards: supporting project delivery in Cornwall and Dorset, outside HotSW region
As part of the Future Farming Resilience (FFR) Scale-Up, this project has been extended for delivery into Cornwall and Dorset, and RSW specialist workshops are being made available to the farming community both in-person and online, across the Great South West. These workshops aim to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing, sign-posting to the relevant support services, and deliver helpful advice through trusted local advisors and specialists.
The HotSW TSFP produces a newsletter once every quarter. To be added to the mailing list for this newsletter, please contact the TSFP at consume.tradingstandardsfarmingpartnership-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.
Previous webinars that have been recorded can be viewed on the HotSW Trading Standards website.
Upcoming webinars can be found on the FFR website.
If you would like to attend or speak at a webinar, please contact the team at team@businessinfopoint.co.uk or 0800 592 872.
Contact details
If you have any questions about the FFR project, or you would like to find out more, please email us at farmingresilience@devon.gov.uk.
If you have any questions regarding the workshops or other areas of support, contact BIP by calling them at 0800 592872, or emailing them at team@businessinfopoint.co.uk.
Please check our Devon County Council privacy policy and the Business Information Point privacy policy to see how we use and store your submitted data.