CP2221-22 Future Farming Resilience Scale Up Phase 2022

The Future Farming Resilience Fund is a DEFRA grant, designed to provide business support to farmers and land managers during the early years of the agricultural transition. It does this by awarding grants to organisations who help farmers and land managers to: understand the changes that are happening. DCC has successfully bid for this Grant funding with a clearly defined resilience programme.

The Future Farming Resilience programme will cover the Great South West Geographical area of Devon, Somerset, Dorset and Cornwall. This procurement will seek to contract organisations that can support the delivery of this work across the geographical area. It is anticipated that multiple providers will be procured to deliver this activity and they will be overseen by the lead delivery contractor (who have been appointed through a separate procurement via direct award from the business support framework). This recommendation is to appoint multiple providers who will be managed by the lead delivery contractor which has already been appointed in the way described.

DCC has previously delivered three initial and interim phases of the programme, this is the scale up phase that 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 it could have. The project will also monitor the impact and value for money of this resilience support. The procurement timescales match the DEFRA grant agreement.

Support provided will include a mixture of initial and specialist workshop sessions (at times and locations convenient for farmers to attend) and 1-2-1 advisor meetings - both virtually and face to face, which is the preferred option for farm businesses. The amount and depth of support will be tailored to each participant through this scheme, with careful consideration given to ensure that specialist skills and relevant local knowledge is utilised through the delivery partners as effectively as possible.

Workshops will address changes due to Agricultural Transition, informing farmers and landowners about the latest agricultural bill announcements, timeframes, what this will affect and where farmers can find guidance and advice on how to prepare. Workshops will explore the impact of a reducing Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) on the current profitability of farms located in the Great South West with discussions to examine change within the business that would help mitigate the reductions.

Following the workshops, 1:1 individual business support will be offered to attendees who want to explore further the detail of how the changes will affect their business. A detailed business analysis tool will be used and calculation of the reductions in BPS over the 2021-2027 period and the impact on business profitability over the period. This will then determine the support needed for the farm in examining the options open to them as the changes affect their business. An action plan for the business will be drawn up. Farms supported will have the option to take up between 1 and 3.5 days of intensive one to one support and information sharing dependant on need identified through their plan.

Participants in the project will also be offered additional specialised workshops on areas relevant to their situations:

• Exiting the industry and farm / family succession planning
• Diversification into other business areas
• Adding Value to Food and Drink such as processing primary produce
• Productivity actions
• Environmental Schemes – Mid Tier, The Wildlife Offers, Sustainable Farming Incentive, Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery
• Business Planning and Cashflows