National Trust plans farm New Deal

29 May 2001



National Trust plans farm New Deal

By FWi staff

YOUNG farmers would be able to study land management at a university of agriculture under a new scheme proposed by the National Trust.

The Trust is seeking to attract government cash to fund the project which would be the equivalent of a New Deal for agriculture, reports The Times.

The strategy would offer young people “careerships” of the land and develop a National Trust food label, and open the trusts farms to children.

It would aim for every child to get an opportunity to visit a farm and for older teenagers to spend holidays there, in an effort to bridge a town and country divide.

The Times says chief executive Fiona Reynolds believes the trust is well-placed to pioneer changes because it can oversee practice changes directly.

A blueprint detailing Ms Reynolds vision for farming will be published this summer, it says.

The National; Trust is the largest landowner in England and Wales after the government.

It owns 600,000 acres, of which 450,000 are tended by 2000 tenant farmers.

• Trust may pay farmers to stay on land, FWi, 30 March, 2001
  
• The Times 29 May 2001 page 5
  

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