EU funds for marketing website

THE EU is providing a £350,000 grant to create an on-line marketplace for farmers to sell their products and promote their farm tourism enterprises.

The Terracelt site will not go live until July, but leaders of the Farmers Union of Wales and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association will launch the initiative today (May 24) at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.

Both organisations claim that impetus to establish the site came from grassroot members seeking new marketing opportunities and improved profits.

The grant, from the EU’s Interreg Fund, will underwrite most of the project’s costs for two years, but farmers who sell directly through the site will have to pay a “modest” fee.

Organisers hope to attract sponsorship from individual people and companies who appear in a directory of goods and services.

Terracelt will also carry comparative Welsh and Irish Republic farmgate prices and advice about diversification, including video interviews with successful entrepreneurs.

Non-farmers who log on will be encouraged to play an interactive game designed to provide information about farming and the countryside, and provide an opportunity to try trading agricultural products.