The Royal Countryside Fund

Do you struggle to know where to start on your journey to sustainability? Routes to Regen is a free programme designed to make regenerative farming practical and rewarding for arable and mixed farmers in the East of England.  Farmers will have access to a carefully curated menu of resources and opportunities, provided by leading food and finance businesses from the Sustainable Markets Initiative, including McCain Foods, McDonald's, Lloyds Banking Group, Waitrose & Partners, NatWest, Barclays, Aon, Tokio Marine Kiln and Lloyd's. 🔎 Get free, on-farm advice from Ceres Rural to find the best sustainability solutions for your farm.  🌾 Access exclusive benefits like discounted cover crop seed and supply opportunities.  🤝 Connect with livestock farmers, attend demo days and join a network of like-minded growers. Make regenerative farming work for you! Sign up today: https://lnkd.in/eiFQ5suW #RoutesToRegen #RegenerativeFarming #SustainableAgriculture 

Soil is a farmer’s most important asset. Healthy soil can make a farm more efficient, more productive and more resilient. But how can you tell if your soil is healthy? And what steps can you take to improve its quality? Our new ‘Savings in Soil’ booklet is a practical guide for farmers covering: 1.      Why healthy soil is important and can reduce costs on the farm 2.      How to measure your soil quality with just a few common tools 3.      Practical steps you can take now to start improving your soil quality To date, our Savings in Soil programme, supported by McDonald's UK and Ireland has helped over 120 family farms across England and Wales to better understand their soil health and how healthy soil can benefit both the environment and the resilience of their business. Download the full booklet on our website: https://lnkd.in/eN9b7Bim #BritishFarming #FarmingUK #FamilyFarm

We were very proud to welcome our Royal Founding Patron, His Majesty King Charles III, to our regenerative farming event at Somerset House today. Our event brought together Herefordshire farmers from the amazing Herefordshire Rural Hub CIC, as well as our corporate partners, McDonald's UK and Ireland and Regenified™, to mark the launch of new support for farmers. The RCF is committed to supporting the UK’s farmers, helping them to farm in harmony with nature and build resilient businesses that will protect the countryside for generations to come. To find out more about our support for farming families please visit our website: https://lnkd.in/e5A9fjxu

We were delighted to attend a reception hosted for us by our Royal Founding Patron, His Majesty The King at Buckingham Palace yesterday to celebrate our fifteenth anniversary. It was attended by representatives from 32 farm support groups from across the UK, supported by the Fund, to recognise the crucial role these groups play in supporting farming families. Farm support groups help farmers navigate the challenges they face, offering not only practical guidance on business, farm administration, managing the consequences of climate change and succession planning, but also in addressing a wide range of wellbeing needs. Last year, we awarded £250,000 in grants, which enabled farm support groups to reach a further 7,425 farming families. Yesterday, we came together not only to celebrate the achievements of these farm support groups, but to reaffirm our commitment to standing by them and Britain’s farmers, whose need for their vital help and guidance is as important as ever.  Together, through mutual support and collaboration, we are doing all we can to ensure the future of our farming families on whose back rests the economic vitality and beauty of rural Britain.

We’re now supporting three rural community organisations in Northumberland with £79,000 of new funding, in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund. We brought together representatives from these groups at the amazing Lesbury Community Shop to celebrate the funding and discuss their plans for the future of their communities. These are organisations making a real difference, powering up their communities. We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund for their support in this partnership and we want to extend our thanks to National Lottery players, for helping to fund these amazing community-led projects. #RuralCommunities #CommunityProject #Northumberland

This week, we were delighted to bring together representatives from 23 farm support groups for our sixth annual Farm Support Groups Conference. This year, it took place on the rolling hills of the Cumbrian countryside and was very kindly hosted by the Westmorland Family at the Rheged Centre and Tebay Services. The event provided a vital opportunity, as it does every year, for the farm support groups in our network to catch up, share knowledge and explore key issues facing the family families they support on a daily basis. Sessions over the two days included a fireside chat with RCF trustees Allan Wilkinson and Chris Sparrow on family farm finances and natural capital, and an introduction to Regenified™ and supporting family farms on their first steps to regenerative farming. Thanks to volunteers from The Farmer Network, UTASS and RSABI, plus expert speakers, we held a presentation on succession planning and how to best support farming families. We also had a fascinating tour with the Westmorland Family of their Tebay Services farm shop and butchery, as well as learning about the history of their farm and business, and how they are building a resilient future by working in a farm cluster. Our thanks to the Westmorland Family for their incredible hospitality over the two days, NFU Mutual for supporting our Farm Support Groups Initiative, all of the speakers and the farm support groups who travelled far and wide to attend. See you next year!

What a great day, celebrating the recipients of our Supporting Rural Communities funding with The National Lottery Community Fund. From strengthening communities to protecting their local environment, these projects are making a real difference. As well as presenting their awards, we brought together a panel of interesting speakers to talk about some of the issues that Cumbria’s rural communities are facing. Huge thanks to everyone who joined us today! #RuralCommunities #CommunityProject #Cumbria

Applications are open for our UK-wide Supporting Rural Communities grant programme. Community-led organisations can apply for grants of up to £25,000 to power up their rural community. To apply, simply head to our website, read our application guidance, and complete a short ‘expression of interest’: https://lnkd.in/eQcrGg6K We’ve streamlined our application process to make it easier for you to tell us about the work you do! #funding #grants #ruralcommunities

New year, new job? We are recruiting for a new role of Head of Farming to lead our work in providing grounded support to ever more family farms across the UK at such a challenging time. The RCF is a ambitious charity and if you would like to join a friendly team to make a real difference, then please contact Wild Search. https://lnkd.in/e6wAZAd9

Our new UK-wide Supporting Rural Communities grant programme is now open for applications! Our aim is to support innovative solutions that will “power up, not prop up” communities, inspiring change and encouraging economic vibrancy. Read all the details and apply via our website: bit.ly/4ggQ0Nm #funding #grants #ruralcommunities