Land Partnerships Service – Bringing Entrepreneurs, Business & Land Owners Together

FSLEC  launched its new Land Partnerships Service for England in 2016 with the invaluable support of many industry partners, our national advisory group,  and of course our funders – The Princes Countryside Fund and The Frank Parkinson Agricultural Trust.

The bespoke service was developed to draw together entrepreneurs looking for innovative ways of working with land owners, business owners or land agents with an opportunity or land to offer. We are now seeing evidence that this exciting initiative is enabling like-minded individuals to track down the right business partner with a view to forge new working agreements. With some interested parties now reaching the introduction stage or going further in developing their business partnerships, the service is proving a success, and with more registrations being taken all the time the service will grow and inevitably increase this success rate.

To see the different levels of service available and to register for free go to our registration details page, and read on for further background information on the service.

What is the Land Partnerships Service Q & A’s

Q Who is it for?

A Land and business entrepreneurs looking to start or expand a business, landowners (small to large areas of land), land agents, farmer’s/business owners who may have the opportunities to offer and the land on which they can be delivered.

Q What is different about the types of opportunities being offered here in comparison to other routes?

A This service is there to bring together interested parties who are looking to work together all be it through established business models. There is an emphasis on helping new business get started or providing an entrance point and or step into an existing business with the ultimate aim to help them people progress. It can be extremely useful to those considering joint ventures and even of use within succession scenario’s.

For more details of these business models see our handbook and further details on our general land partnerships information page.

Q How do I get involved and find out more?

A There are two main ways you can find out more and get involved:

If you are just wanting to be up dated with general information on the service, go to our contact us page  and complete the form and tick the ‘matching’ box. We will then send you information of the service as it happens by email.

If you would like to register to use the service then go to the registration page, read the full details of the service and complete the form accordingly. Send it back to us and we will add you to the main Land Partnerships Service database and work with you from there.

Why was a Land Partnerships Service needed?

We have often been approached by people in both of the above groups, and with their permission we have tried to put them in touch with others who may be able to help and this is the case for other professionals and organisations within our industry. Throughout this time it became apparent for a need to formalise this process and create an effective mechanism that will match entrepreneurs with business opportunities particularly where the approach may be slightly different such as share farming.

Fresh Start Land Enterprise has always had a focus on promoting good business skills and innovation with land and business agreements and have participated in numerous meetings nationally discussing how we bring people together. Recent research carried out by the National Federation Of Young Farmers Clubs for DEFRA reiterated the need for an official matching service to be created. The upshot of this was a recommendation for a ‘pilot service/s’ to be tried first.

With Fresh Start at the helm, the challenge was taken on and a national industry advisory group was then created drawing members from across the agricultural industry spectrum including  National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs,  www.nfyfc.org.uk , Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, www.rics.org, Exeter University, www.exeter.ac.uk,  Country Land and Business Association, www.cla.org.uk, Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, www.caav.org.uk , Delta Innovation who were involved in the matching research for DEFRA, www.delta-innovation.co.uk and farmers themselves who have seen the benefits of innovation in land agreements. This advisory group provided invaluable advice and input throughout the pilot development process and ensured representation from those directly involved. We are excited about the launch of this service on June 1st and look forward to it growing from its initial pilot.

In conjunction with the matching service, Fresh Start has been running Land Partnership Workshops at various locations around the country. These have been designed to introduce participants to the 5 step approach to creating innovative business agreements and is highly recommended to anyone interested in registering with the matching service. Please click the link to our workshop pages for more information on what the workshop has to offer and the scheduled dates and venues for this event. Land Partnership Workshops. Alternatively use our Contact Us page and leave your details and we will get in touch with you.

The Big Conversation on Land Matching at Chatsworth

Land Matching: The Big Conversation was the first conference of its kind and took place at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire on 8th November 2017.  A huge thank you to all involved in the conference and we were delighted with the attendance and the feedback received.

The event started with a presentation from Professor Matt Lobley of Exeter University talking about family farming, succession and entry to farming, followed by our very own Alison Rickett enlightening the audience with why land partnerships should be considered, the advantages and challenges and the land partnerships approach that should be taken. Kate Russell of the CAAV looked at the importance of a properly considered and drafted written agreement for the occupation of agricultural land and Rob Hitch of Dodd & Co covered the financing details of joint ventures.

We were also delighted to welcome Land Mobility Northern Ireland and Venture Wales to the room consolidating the work of the land matching services available from all corners of the UK and Northern Ireland and introducing delegates to the potential benefits of innovative land agreements and ways to find the ideal business partner.