NATIONAL FARMING Help charities have launched a new series of online sessions to help the industry manage stress, succession and future planning.

Farming Help is an alliance between national farm charities Farming Community Network (FCN), Addington Fund and Forage Aid, operating in England and Wales, who are working closely together to provide greater support to the farming community

From February 2022, the charities will be delivering awareness raising sessions focusing on areas such as stress management, future planning and support available across the industry.

The sessions are discussion-led and take a positive approach towards change, inviting audience participation and the sharing of experiences to benefit others.

Scenarios have been designed to get people thinking about how they would respond in a particular situation - including a difficult conversation around succession on the family farm and two farmers responding to change in drastically different ways.

The first sessions will take place online during the weekends of February 24 and 25, between 12pm and 2pm and on March 10 and 11, between 12pm and 2pm, and are targeted at farm groups, businesses and stakeholder across agriculture.

Dr Jude McCann, chair of Farming Help and CEO of The FCN – which provides practical and pastoral support to people across agriculture – said: “We hope these awareness raising sessions, developed with the input of the Farming Help charities, will be of great value to people across agriculture. The sessions have been developed to support the farming community in spotting signs of stress, planning ahead and managing change, and include practical scenarios informed by real experiences of farming families. We hope these two-way conversations, inviting audience response and openness, will help promote positive discussions and a fresh perspective on change.”

Read more:

Addington Fund helps farmers by providing retirement homes for retiring farmers and affordable rural housing for farming families as well as disaster relief in the form of animal feed or services to farmers in need across England and Wales. They also operate a fund to help farm workers and last year launched a young entrants scheme to encourage first generation farmers into agriculture. Chief Executive of Addington Fund, Bill Young, said: “Working alongside other charities as part of Farming Help allows us to collaborate at a time when our industry really needs to come together as a community and show a united front. As well as delivering the Farming Help awareness sessions, this close working model allows us to provide greater support to farmers and farming families, particularly during times of crisis and emergency, while cutting costs and reducing duplication.”

The third charity involved in the new alliance, Forage Aid, coordinates the goodwill of the agricultural community to help UK livestock farms hit by extreme weather events and certain disease outbreaks. This help is often in the form of emergency forage and/or bedding delivered to wherever it is needed. Founder, Andrew Ward MBE, said: “Being part of Farming Help allows us to consolidate our charitable efforts by working together on projects and ensuring farmers can access relevant support when required, particularly during times of emergency. Farmers helping farmers is our mantra, and our charities exist to help the farming community stay safe and well and find a positive way through their problems.”

Further information about the sessions is available at https://fcn.org.uk/training-and-development/ and to book to attend one of the free sessions contact training@fcn.org.uk