Northumberland County Chair Mac Young and I attended a ‘Farming in a Changing Climate’ event at Kirkley Hall where Mac had been invited to speak on a panel alongside Business Northumberland Economic Growth Manager Lucy Evermore, Northumberland National Park Authority Farming and Rural Enterprise Officer Ben Lang and Hexham and Northern Marts Managing Director Robert Addison.
Mac spoke to the audience about the lack of, but the importance of, creating opportunities for young entrants into farming. Whether they are already connected to family farms or looking to become first generation farmers, the support to facilitate young people getting onto the farming ladder is a major factor to ensuring the industry can thrive going forward.
He emphasised the value of community in rural areas and how key hubs, such as auction marts, are imperative to giving farmers somewhere to meet up in an informal setting.
Mac explained that the industry has faced some big challenges in recent months and the changes to IHT and withdrawal of SFI at such short notice has created a severe lack of confidence in national government, with farmers needing assurance to accurately budget and proactively plan five to ten years in advance.
Despite the challenges, there are so many positives and the key to highlighting the importance of farming in the local economy to the general public is education at all ages.
The audience welcomed the information provided by Lucy outlining the various support and grant funding available for small rural businesses. Many suggestions were made about how the particulars of this support could be shared wider to encourage a higher submission of applications for funding and to focus on making the process as easy as possible in a timely way and indirectly contacting their desired audience through trusted intermediaries, many of whom were sat in the room.
‘Mind’ were also in attendance and presented to the audience about the importance of recognising and managing stress, understanding ‘burnout’ and how to support your mental health.
They urged all the farmers in the room to stop, think, assess and ask themselves ‘do they look after and consider their own health as much as that of their farm machinery and livestock?’
If you, or anyone you know is struggling visit our Agricultural mental health and wellbeing support in the North page.
It’s so important to remember that you ‘the farmer’ are the most important and irreplaceable asset on your farm!