Free business advice for region’s farmers

A firm of farm consultants says it will continue offering free business advice after the end of the government’s Future Farm Resilience Fund.

Up to 500 free one-to-one business reviews are being offered to farmers by Ceres Rural. The reviews were previously funded by Defra’s resilience fund which is due to come to an end this month.

Ceres Rural managing director Charlie Ireland said the reviews would focus on farmers who hadn’t been able to take advantage of previous offers and those farmers who were now needing more specialist advice.

Performance

Businesses who weren’t receiving Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments before 2022 are eligible for the new offer. So too are those farmers who want to improve business performance or are considering a change of direction or diversification.

“The sudden slashing of BPS means there’s no way of avoiding the fact that harvest 2025 margins are going to be very tough,” said Mr Ireland.

“At a time of great anxiety and stress for many, it would be very difficult for us to walk away from providing our bespoke advice and guidance that almost 1500 businesses have already received and benefited from when there’s still a need for it.”

Opportunities

Farming was going through an unprecedented transition, said Mr Ireland. “Standing together at a time like this is important. Ceres Rural remains committed to helping farms and rural businesses make the right choices for the future.

“In such turbulent times, there will be challenges as well as opportunities. Having the business resilience and financial performance to either overcome or take advantage of these will be key.”

Consultations and follow-up action plans produced by experienced farm business consultants will prioritise pressing issues, from improving productivity to setting up diversification projects and finding additional income streams.