This month Emily Ashworth looks at how the Princes Countryside Fund and its ambassadors support the rural community.
The Princes Countryside Fund (PCF)
PCF has awarded at least 500,000 in grants; it receives more than 300 applications per grant round and is only in a position to award 15-20 grants each time
PCF facts
- Provides free, expert skills training to farmers through its Farm Resilience Programme, Farm for the Future and associated sessions, such as Carbon Clarity, Ready for Change and Opening the Gate
- It has also released publications such as A-Zero and the Great Grazing Guide in reaction to fertiliser prices; there is a real appetite for advice, but cost is always a barrier, the charity said, and in response, it is committed to ensuring its training is free to access
- In 2022, it launched the Happiness Grants with Waitrose and Partners; this aimed to fund community grassroots projects addressing challenges such as food poverty, mental health, skills and development opportunities and loneliness and isolation; six rural projects have collectively already received a 67,000 boost
Princes Countryside Fund (PCF) executive director Keith Halstead said: For over a decade, The Princes Countryside Fund has been working to ensure a sustainable future for the people of the countryside, by providing practical support to back the ideas and commitment of those who live and work there.
Farmers, and the rural communities they are part of, are a crucial component in building a more sustainable Britain by enhancing nature, growing healthy food and providing a place of rest and comfort for the entire nation.
Backing rural businesses is vital, as thriving local rural economies underpin thriving rural communities.
Tom Youngs
Former England rugby player Tom Youngs knows the importance of supporting the rural community.
As a fourth generation farmer from Norfolk, he takes his role as an ambassador for PCF seriously.
He said: I have seen at first hand the fantastic work they do in empowering family farms and rural communities to survive and thrive.
We are also in a chapter of change and ensuring farmers and the rural community can navigate their way through it is key.
Tom said: British farming is facing huge challenges, but without agriculture, there would be no food and we need food to survive.
British farmers do an incredible job producing high-quality food for us to consume, while also looking after the environment. I want to say a huge thank you to all the hard-working farmers who keep us fed every day.
