YES, BUT SUPPORT TOO
EDUCATION,
YES, BUT SUPPORT TOO
Education may still be its main purpose. But at one
Lancs college, providing farmers with training and
business support to ensure their businesses survive
is an increasingly important secondary role.
Jeremy Hunt explains why
DONT let anyone tell you that all agricultural colleges are half empty. Most days youve a job to find a space in the car park at Myerscough College because this place is buzzing.
Admittedly, the real agriculturalist is now as likely to rub shoulders in the lunch queue with a budding riding instructor as a would-be farm manager. But here in the flat fields of the Fylde countryside, Myerscough College is offering rather more than just education.
In the heart of this modern complex, a team of experts is delivering a practical and somewhat sophisticated approach to farmings future – and you dont have to be a spiky-haired student to take advantage of it.
The Rural Business Centre at Myerscough College is a think-tank of ideas for those determined to make their farm businesses work. Whether your new venture needs careful nurturing or your established business wants a shot in the arm, this is the place to come for sound advice and guidance.
The specialised training and business support skills on offer are proving a lifeline for many farmers and their families. Tapping into the expertise in this place could mean the difference between a secure and profitable future or fixing up a date with your bank manager to talk about selling the farm.
Lorna Tyson, whose husband runs a dairy farm in Cheshire, has worked at the college for more than 20 years. Now, as director of business and enterprise, she believes there has never been a greater need to provide practical and professional advice to the rural business sector.
"We see the Rural Business Centre as the focus within the north-west for individuals, businesses, communities and all who live and work in the regions rural areas," she says. "Theres a need for an integrated approach to education, training, research and business support that can be practically applied to help rural businesses succeed."
Mrs Tyson admits that getting the message across to farmers and their families is not easy. "They are bombarded with paperwork and DEFRA notices. It can be difficult to get them to realise just how much help we can offer and across such a wide range of business needs."
Buzz words
Flick through the notes explaining what the Rural Business Centre is all about and youll pick out buzz words like consultancy, funding, innovation, business partnerships and learning clubs. Its the sort of jargon that once scared the pants off most farmers. Now, packaged as a meaningful and practical source of help and provided by individuals with a real handle on farming and rural businesses, it should not be ignored.
The Farm Business Advice Service has been providing a degree of free help to farmers, but the cost of implementing that advice in terms of making changes to any business can be the biggest hurdle. The theory looks good on paper but putting it into practice can be expensive.
Mrs Tyson and the team at Myerscough are now looking at ways of tapping into new funding, such as through the Rural Enterprise Scheme, to make more projects come to life instead of languishing in a brown envelope behind the clock. Their quest is to put more farm businesses on a secure footing.
"Being faced with a half-inch thick set of guidelines on how to apply for this cash is in itself another turn-off to farmers. We want to get them over these hurdles and to provide farming families with guidance on how to put their grant applications together."
Business
The Rural Business Centre, with funding from the North West Development Agency, has been able to pilot projects in the region. One of the most successful ventures has been the setting up of business clubs.
The first club was based on 12 farmers who came together to work on a set of farm business case studies. This served as an excellent training method and prepared the group to move on to using their new-found management skills to evaluate their own businesses.
"There are now 10 clubs meeting fortnightly," says Mrs Tyson. "It enables these farmers to take time out from their farms and to look at their own businesses and share ideas and problems with others. Plans and projections, often based on a what-if principle, are worked through using lap-top computers which farmers can take home with them.
More than 130 farmers in the region are involved with these clubs at a cost of £60-90/member. Theyve been so popular that there is now networking between the clubs.
"That means that if a man in Cheshire and one in Lancs want to start making ice-cream we can bring them together and provide special advice or perhaps arrange to send them on a course," says Mrs Tyson.
One of the most valuable benefits of the clubs has been the bringing together of farmers from diverse backgrounds. A broccoli grower from south-west Lancs – who admitted to being rather sceptical about the concept but is now one of its staunchest supporters – is a good example.
Mrs Tyson says: "His business was very different to those of livestock producers, but having to depend on his own initiative to market his crops enabled him to bring a new perspective to the sessions on marketing and selling produce."
Farmer-friendly
The jargon is all-important, too. "If we called them management courses no one would want to know. Call them clubs and the whole thing is far more farmer-friendly."
The Rural Business Centre has also been involved in consultancy work that will be of direct benefit to producers selling through farmers markets. One project involved interviewing 300 shoppers at 11 farmers markets throughout the region to see what they bought and why they shop at a market. Another involved interviewing customers of farm shops.
"All the data will be analysed and the results will be published by the North West Development Agency," says Mrs Tyson. "The conclusions will hopefully give farmers a much better idea about the kind of people who are supporting them and that should help them make more balanced business decisions."