Summit held to help farmers boost resilience
Leading figures from farming groups, banks and government have come together to discuss a range of measures to help farmers improve their resilience this winter.
The third Farming Resilience Summit, hosted by farm minister George Eustice this week, built on the work of the previous meetings in discussing how banks, industry, and government can support British farmers to better understand and manage the risks they face.
Measures to help farmers range from practical and simple tips and advice, such as those on the Met Office’s Get Ready for Winter pages, to long-term training programmes and mentoring for small farm businesses.
These strategies come from a 10-point plan agreed by industry and farming groups at a previous summits convened by DEFRA secretary Owen Paterson in July.
These focused on practical, tailored measures to support farmers following the terrible winter of 2012-13, which devastated farm businesses across the country.
Farm minister George Eustice said: “Farming has always been a high risk business and I want to work with the industry to explore ways of mitigating some of that risk.
“This could range from short term measures such as improved weather forecasting to longer term proposals for insurance schemes to offset the risk of crop failure”.
Representatives from HSBC, RBS, British Banking Association, NFU, CLA, Tenant Farmers’ Association (TFA), HRH Prince of Wales’ Countryside Fund, Addington Fund, Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB), Farming Community Network and the Met Office were among those attending the meeting at DEFRA’s HQ in London.
NFU chief economist Phil Bicknell said: “Despite the considerably kinder summer and autumn, farmers will not forget the series of challenges created by the unprecedented weather earlier in the year.
“Whether it’s market volatility, supply chain issues, or further extreme weather events, enhancing farming’s resilience is critical to the long term success of our industry.”
Philippa Spackman, communications manager at farm charity RABI, added: “The exceptional weather of 2012 and this spring took its toll on many farmers and despite the good summer, it will take those affected much longer to recover.
“As a result the meeting heard that 16% of farmers expect to earn less than £10,000 from farming this year.
“As a charity that helps farming families in financial difficulty, we very much welcome DEFRA’s initiative to hold a third meeting to look at the challenges agriculture faces and encourage industry leaders to work together to identify potential solutions.”