Pictured above: Back Row - Mark Pierce, Gallops Farm (green top); Richard Tulloch, emda; John Strawson, Centre of Renewable Energy; Michael Stubbs, emda; Robert Bell, Bell Brothers Nurseries; Chris Gill, RAC Forestry Commission chair; Ivan Banister, Cool Contours; 

Middle Row - Gilly Groom, The Calf House; Roy Mayo, Thrupp Wharf Marina; David Bole, Forestry Commission; Paul Meakin, Environment Agency; Vidyanath Gururajan, Branston Ltd;

Front Row - Julie Robinson, emda; Andrew Morgan, emda; Heather Banister, Cool Contours. 

A rural conference held on Tuesday 26th January 2010 by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) attracted over 200 business representatives to Newark Showground who were keen to find out more about the financial support on offer to farmers, foresters, growers and the food sector in the region. 

The 'Funding opportunities available to land based businesses' event focused on the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) - which is funded by the European Union (EU) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and managed in the region by emda, the Forestry Commission and Natural England.

The conference offered delegates the opportunity to attend specialist workshops covering a wide range of RDPE topics such livestock; woodfuel and forestry; diversification and new opportunities; and renewable energy and water resource efficiency.

Speaking at the event, Jeff Moore, emda's Chief Executive, said: "As the region's economic development agency, our job is to build on and exploit the strengths of our rural communities. It's a little known fact that the East Midlands is the third most rural region in England, so the rural economy does in fact play a much more important role in our economic vitality than in it does in other regions. This is why emda and its partners have supported a range of rural projects in recent years." 

"Since 2007, we have managed, alongside Natural England and the Forestry Commission, the East Midlands' slice of the European Commission's RDPE" he continued. "Our challenge has always been to make sure this funding is used to the maximum benefit of our rural areas and yesterday's event was about exploring the opportunities that exist for our land based businesses to get maximum benefit from this fund.

To date there have been some fantastic examples of projects that RDPE in the East Midlands has already supported; like Woldgrain in Lincolnshire creating over 26 thousand tonnes of additional crop storage to maximise returns for growers and Branston Ltd who assisted us in the resource efficiency workshop at the event to showcase how they extract water and energy from waste potatoes, I could go on - there are literally hundreds of businesses benefiting both directly and indirectly from RDPE grants."

Throughout the day, businesses who had already delivered successful RDPE projects also talked about their experiences of seeking funding, and the RDPE team was on hand to give one to one advice and guidance on potential project ideas that could be eligible for a grant. 

Martin Taylor, Chief Executive of Long Clawson Dairy in Leicestershire, who featured in a DVD shown at the event to showcase successful RDPE projects, commented: "The approval of the RDPE grant for our expansion project was great news and absolutely puts us on track for the next decade." He added "applying for the grant isn't a complicated process, just a detailed process." 

Roy Mayo from Thrupp Wharf Marina in Northamptonshire, who diversified from growing wheat to establish a 60 birth canal side marina, presented his successful RDPE project at one of the event workshops. Commenting on his project Roy said: "We'd been growing wheat for 25 years and thought perhaps we might make a bit more money out of growing boats than growing wheat. Without emda we wouldn't have started the job and we certainly wouldn't have finished it."  

Launched in January 2008, emda's RDPE programme is delivered directly to farmers, foresters, growers and the food sector. The agency's priority is to allocate grants to support businesses to improve their competitiveness, productivity and sustainability. 

Funded by the European Union (EU) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs (Defra), emda delivers the business development element of RDPE in the region, with a budget of £61 million available to land based businesses until 2013. 

Michael Stubbs, Rural Development Programme Manager at emda said "This event has been a real success and we have had positive feedback from the many farmers and rural business representatives that attended. We hope it will generate many new expressions of interest in RDPE grants. The RDPE team are available to answer any questions and are happy to assist businesses with the application process."