A project to help Devon's farmers diversify and take up stewardship grants available for looking after the environment is being launched with the support of Devon Renaissance. The £150,000 project is being managed across the county by the West Devon Agricultural Business Information Point (WDBIP), based in Okehampton, and Devon Renaissance is putting up half the cost, with other funding coming from West Devon and East Devon councils, the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Sustainable Development funds, and the Red Meat Industry Forum. The project, called Business and Environmental Skills Training, is designed to address farmers' needs for business skills training and to stimulate interest and engagement with the Environmental Stewardship programme, which provides grants for farmers who look after the countryside. This year's foot and mouth outbreak and emergence of blue tongue disease has added to the pressures that beef and sheep farms, in particular, face. With poor quality fodder produced during the wet summer and the doubling of feed costs it will take many farms until next summer to see any sort of recovery. In addition the over-supplied lamb market is not expected to stabilise until the middle of next year. The project will offer training and support to Devon's farmers who currently work in the declining land-based sector. The project will deliver a package of brainstorming, mentoring and training and will offer vocational skills, business skills, and confidence building support, all of which will equip farmers for the future. Stewart Horne, manager of WDBIP, said: 'As a sheep farmer myself I know how difficult things are, but many farmers have not made applications for Environmental Stewardship because of a lack of knowledge of the schemes. We will help farmers with applications that suit their farms and circumstances. 'This is one way of clawing back the modulation funds being deducted from farmers' single payments and beef and sheep farms desperately need as much income as they can get.'
