£220,000 worth of funding will be available this winter
for farmers, foresters and growers in the East Midlands it was
announced today (17th August).
LandSkills East Midlands will provide 70% funding towards skills
development activities, discussion groups and more as part of its
winter activity programme. Managed by Lantra Sector Skills Council,
as part of the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), it
aims to encourage land-based businesses to apply for funding to
invest in the training and development of themselves and their
workforce.
LandSkills East Midlands Programme Manager, Richard Loynes,
said: "In times of recession it's not every day that you can
announce there is money available for industry to access. We have
allocated over £220,000 for the winter programme which funds
a huge range of activity - from helping young people via the Fresh
Start Academy, an all industry-led initiative to encourage and
support new entrants into farming, funding high level technical
training such as agronomy, using discussion groups and
demonstration sites to get the latest technology and research out
to farmers, as well as funding all sorts of activities for the
livestock industry. So there's a huge amount of activity over the
winter and up to 70% funding towards the costs."
So far the programme has contracted with ten organisations,
including veterinary leads, to deliver animal health and welfare
activities to poultry, beef, sheep, pigs and dairy farmers,
advanced and intermediate technical training via a Training Group
consortium across Lincolnshire and supported Fresh Start Academies
in Northampton and Lincolnshire.
Lantra was appointed to manage the LandSkills East Midlands
programme on emda's behalf until December 2011 and has
£900,000 to put towards training and skills development
activities during this time.
For more information contact Lantra on 0845 707 8007 or email
Connect@lantra.co.uk