Fresh Start’s Land Partnerships Service is continuing to increase its client base and we are seeing exciting new opportunities coming in. Keep updated with new opportunities registering with our land partnerships service by checking our website weekly. Details of current opportunities can be found on our matching page including a share farming  proposal that could link livestock with a new agroforestry planting scheme, and  a 2-acre Victorian walled garden with some polytunnels available for a horticultural entrepreneur to share farm or rent in Yorkshire.

Farming Connect in Wales has joined forces with Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre to introduce the 5 step land partnerships approach to the Welsh farming community through their new land matching project ‘Venture’.

A series of workshops to be delivered by Alison Rickett of Fresh Start in conjunction with Einir Haf Davis, the Development and Mentoring Manager at Farming Connect and her team, will deliver the message that innovative ways of working together to produce joint venture land agreements can produce a sustainable and beneficial way forward for agriculture.

The workshops are to be held during May at the following venues:

Pencoed, Vale of Glamorgan

Llandissilio, Pembrokeshire

Caernarfon

Ruthin

Builth Wells

Lampeter

For further details or if you would like to book a place, please contact Gwen Davies on gwen.davies@menterabusnes.co.uk or phone 01745 770039

More information can be found at www.businesswales.gov.wales/farmingconnect/venture

Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre CIC will have a stand at the NFYFC  AGRI Forum on April 22^nd at the at the Riviera International Conference Centre Forum,  Chestnut Avenue, Torquay, Devon, TQ2 5LZ.

Come along and find out more about what we do especially our Land Partnerships Service – a matching service looking to bring people together in joint ventures to help create new and sustainable farming businesses.

We would love to chat with you and to discuss our future events and services and how these may be of benefit to you.

Doors open at 11:00 am for YFC members, supporters and guests to view exhibits and the AGRI Forum begins at 11.30 am.   A second discussion group takes place at 1.00 pm.

Keep updated with new opportunities registering with our land partnerships service by checking our website weekly. Details of current opportunities can be found on our matching page including a dairy farmer seeking an arable partner and a sheep farmer looking for land and buildings in the south west.

With a plethora of training courses and providers out there, it can be difficult to have confidence that the training you receive will be of a high standard and be recognised within the farming sector. UK Rural Skills (UKRS) provides a one-stop shop for accessing accredited rural training whose providers have a proven record of high quality, professional standards in their operation and training delivery. Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre CIC has been offering high quality training courses in agriculture for many years but now has joined UKRS as one of its accredited members, and hope’s that its association with UKRS will not only increase awareness of the services it has to offer but that trainees can have full confidence in the value of the courses they attend. All courses run by Fresh Start will be accredited by UKRS (see website www.ukruralskills.co.uk) and will include its business academies, land partnerships workshops and mentoring scheme.

Fresh Start’s first horticulture academy concluded in autumn 2016 and after its success and positive feedback, Fresh Start is confident that more horticulture academies will take place in other locations around the UK in the near future. Delegates from the recent academy found that the varied sessions provided a great insight into the issues surrounding growing a fledging business into a viable profitable concern, and found that new thinking around business planning and finance that the course provided grew their confidence in changing the way they work. Much emphasis was also given to the value of the industry contacts gained from attending the academy,  the opportunity to share information about markets and food outlets and the potential for support in the future as their enterprises grow.

Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre has always worked nationally to address the needs of farm business development through its academies and workshops across the country. Now with the additional of two regional co-ordinators, Fresh Start can be even more effective in identifying areas of need and targeting its services to specific farming communities. We are pleased to welcome Graham Bulmer who is based in Yorkshire and the North East, and Louise Dennington who will cover the eastern region. With their expertise we can look forward to hosting more events in the coming months in new locations around the UK. We will announce new academies and workshop dates on this website as they are confirmed.

Specifically catering for all farmers, smallholders, land owners, and anyone with an interest in rural business, the Farm Business Innovation Show 2016 is coming to the NEC on 9th and 10th November and Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre is excited to be part of this event.

Alison Rickett, Managing Director of Fresh Start Land Enterprise Centre and driving force behind the creation of a land matching service ‘Fresh Start Land Partnerships Service’ will be speaking about how the project developed and the benefits for the farming community and in particular those wishing to get a foothold in a new joint venture enterprise. Alison will be speaking on the 9^th November at 12.30 and will also be involved in a succession debate on the following day.

Come and find us at STAND 984 where will be happy to talk you through the services we provide and to discuss how we can help your enterprise develop. For further information on the exhibition and for free tickets, please follow this link.

Bookings Still Being Taken

Fresh Start Land Enterprise workshop is  coming to The Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester on 3rd November 2016. Several highly successful workshops have already taken place this year at which Fresh Start introduced the 5 step approach to creating innovative land partnerships.  The workshops are recommended if you are also interested in our matching service as they are a great introduction to  new ways of thinking about land partnerships and provide an opportunity to meet those who have already tried a different approach.  Booking is still open but hurry to avoid disappointment . Click here for more details or go to our contact page and leave us your details.

The next academy rolling out in 2016 will be a Beef and Sheep Academy to be based in Yorkshire kicking off on 23rd November this year and running over 10 sessions until 1st March 2017, with Bishop Burton College being the venue for many of the sessions. Look out for the application form which will be available on-line between 20th September and 20th October and more details will appear on the website in the coming days.