Prince’s Countryside Fund offers £300,000 farm grants

Farm businesses across the UK will benefit from more than £300,000 of grants in the latest round awarded by The Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF).

The aim of the fund is to improve the prospects of family farm businesses and the quality of rural life. It has given more than £8.5m to farms and rural communities in the past seven years.

Nineteen new awards will go to a wide variety of rural and farming organisations supporting farm businesses.

These include the National Sheep Association, the Uplands Alliance, Myerscough College, Bishop Burton College, The Farmer Network, Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services.

See also: Farm management development course opens for applications

The Scottish Association of Young Farmers Club has also won new funding from PCF, as has Cosmic’s Rural Connection Project, which aims to reach the reach the remaining farm businesses who are digitally excluded.

This project will specifically focus on the upland areas of Dartmoor and Exmoor.

FarmCornwall’s support service will also receive funding.

This initiative supports farming families through challenges and opportunities created by their farms.

It aims to help families both at the point of crisis and supporting them through their individual challenges such as family breakdown, bereavement and financial difficulties, back towards stability and sustainability.

The PCF was established by the Prince of Wales in 2010.

Its activities include:

• Providing more than £1.3m/year in grant funding to projects across the UK
• Celebrating and promoting the value of the countryside
• Leading projects to strengthen farm businesses, such as The Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme
• Commissioning research into issues affecting farming families and rural communities
• Bringing together individuals and businesses to help tackle current challenges
• Helping communities in crisis through its emergency fund.