David Cameron opens farm business college

Conservative leader David Cameron attended the opening of a new college which will teach entrepreneurs about running farms as businesses.

The Oxfordshire Fresh Start Academy is part of the joint DEFRA and industry initiative ‘Fresh Start‘, which encourages new entrants into farming, as well as established farmers looking to expand.

The college will offer one-year courses to farmers of any age, consisting of monthly discussion groups with industry professionals.

Students can tailor their course, which will cover such issues as applying for a tenancy, dealing with bank managers and direct marketing strategies.

The new college is attached to the Abingdon and Witney College, on their Common Leys Farm Campus.

Mr Cameron, who is the MP for the area, said: “Fresh Start is a highly appropriate initiative for the problems facing farming today.”

Three more Fresh Start colleges are in development the next will open in Milton, Cambridge, on 4 December 2008.