DEFRA-FUNDED FARM BUSINESS ADVICE TO BE PROVIDED BY CERES RURAL

Leading consultancy Ceres Rural has been named as a key provider of advice for the final stage of Defra’s Future Farming Resilience Fund, which offers free support and advice to farmers in England.

Opening in October 2022 and running until March 2025, the scale up stage of the fund will continue to allow farm businesses to use selected independent advisers for advice and direction on how to cope with the early stages of the agricultural transition.

From understanding the changes that are happening to identifying how they may need to adapt their businesses, farmers can get the one-to-one, free-of-charge support that they need to develop a successful business as BPS support disappears and ELMS is introduced.

As Ceres Rural project director Tim Isaac explains, the company is delighted to be involved in the Future Farming Resilience Fund again, having already delivered bespoke advice packages to over 400 businesses in the previous stages of the initiative.

“As an organisation that is known and trusted in the farming community, Ceres Rural is well placed to do this work – we have a team of qualified and experienced business consultants with farming expertise.

“Given recent world events, there is now even more for farm businesses to contend with since the last stage of the fund, with inflationary pressures and increased market volatility adding to their concerns,” he says.

Getting some timely advice on how to deal with these factors, against the on-going background of the agricultural transition, couldn’t be more relevant, he adds.

The Ceres Rural packages available through Defra mean that farmers can choose from a range of items, depending on their needs and level of detail required.

Three different packages – gold, silver and bronze – contain items including farm resilience reports, carbon audits, benchmarking updates, business plans, budgets and follow-up business reviews, with Ceres Rural consultants involved in the collection of data and delivery of results.

“This allows farmers to decide what level of detail they want,” says Mr Isaac. “Even if they have previously taken advantage of the fund, they can apply again for a different offer or service including a follow-up business review.”

Both on-farm and on-line delivery of advice and recommendations are available, to suit individual requirements.

Any farm or rural business wishing to take advantage of the offer or find out more about the service should contact Ceres Rural by email on futurefarming@ceresrural.co.uk

July 14 2022

For more information contact Tim Isaac at Ceres Rural on 07964 975078 or tim.isaac@ceresrural.co.uk