Rural Support’s 20th anniversary – a year to remember

The organisation, which was established in 2002 to support farmers with the impact of the foot and mouth epidemic, has grown significantly since it was first set up and now delivers a wide range of independent and free guidance for farmers and farm family members in support of their farm business and personal wellbeing.

2022 began with a focus on delivery of the Coping with the Pressures of Farming Workshops under CAFRE’s Farm Family Key Skills Programme.

To date, over 600 farmers and members of farming families have participated in workshops across Northern Ireland since the programme pilot.

The Plough On groups got up and running again for the new year. Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and supported by Ai Services Ltd and the Public Health Agency this programme facilitates 166 older farmers who meet fortnightly across seven groups, connecting on areas of shared interest improving their physical and mental wellbeing and is looking forward to setting up six new groups across Northern Ireland in the spring.

The team were also on the road delivering workshops on Succession Planning as part of the Business of Farming project funded by NFUMCT. They also commenced delivery of the Farm Business Sustainability Pilot Programme under CAFRE’s Farm Family Key Skills Programme which provided workshops and mentoring support to assist with improving farm business performance and effective transfer through generational renewal. Making Tax Digital also became a topic of importance to farming businesses and a series of workshops, again under CAFRE’s Farm Family Key Skills programme, were delivered across the region with FPM’s Lowry Grant providing support and assistance along with Rural Support’s farm business mentors.

HRH Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, was hosted by the charity at CAFRE’s Loughry Campus for their 20th anniversary celebration during March. The event saw supporters from across the agri sector coming together to celebrate the work of the organisation over the last 20 years and was a real testament to the commitment and loyalty of the team to catch the attention of the now King during his trip to Northern Ireland.

The show season kicked off for the organisation in May, at the Balmoral Show where they joined with ABP Northern Ireland to shine a light on ‘Making a Difference in Rapidly Changing Times’ and brought together key agri sector stakeholders to discuss working together better to support farming families as the sector started to plan for a difficult winter period.

The Northern Ireland Agri-Rural Health forum, which is co-ordinated by the charity, was also launched at the event which sees 22 stakeholders across public health, voluntary and agri sectors joining to focus on the wellbeing needs of farming families and rural dwellers. Focused outreach continued at all of the key agri shows during the summer reaching out to farmers and farming families to provide information and support.

During the last quarter of the year, the organisation continued the promotion of Social Farming in Northern Ireland with its first Social Farming Awareness Week followed up by the inaugural social farming conference ‘Social Farming in Northern Ireland – Future Focus’ bringing together key stakeholders to explore the development of this area in Northern Ireland. It also held its second Life Beyond event in support of those bereaved in the agri community which took place in the Glenavon Hotel and was live-streamed.

As well as outreach and promotion of programmes and services being a key activity for the organisation, the less visible side to the operation delivering one to one support continued, through its Support Line and on farm business mentoring and counselling/trauma therapy to farming families across Northern Ireland.

Veronica Morris, chief executive of Rural Support, commented: “Rural Support has had both a very busy and productive year. The work that we do to support those in crisis, those who have stepped forward on the path to building stronger and more sustainable farm businesses and healthier lives, as well as our elder farmers and vulnerable citizens is invaluable and we couldn’t do it without our stakeholders in the agri-sector, our funders and financial backers and our team of trustees, staff, mentors, volunteers and social farmers.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for their dedication and commitment and look forward to continuing this important work in 2023 as the sector and rural community moves into another difficult time.”

Rural Support’s Support Line is open as normal over the holiday period and if you would like to find out more about the services and programmes available at Rural Support, go to the Northern Ireland Farm Support hub at www.ruralsupport.org.uk or telephone the Support Line on Freephone 0800 138 1678 available Monday - Friday 9am-9pm.