Nine projects have been awarded £1 million resilience funding to help farmers prepare for the transition to a new post-Brexit agricultural system.
The Future Farming Resilience Funding will go towards projects that provide support for farmers, including through information sessions, workshops and one to one advice.
This initial phase will be evaluated to inform future decisions about expanding the funds in the future, so that more farmers have access to advice and guidance around future change.
This funding will go to rural-facing organisations across a range of sectors and regions in England and is set to benefit approximately 1,700 farmers this year.
Defra farming minister Victoria Prentis said: "This funding is just one way we will support our hard-working farmers as they prepare for the transition towards a new farming system that works for the whole of the country."
The seven-year agricultural transition period will start in 2021 and see the current subsidy system of Direct Payments – which pay for the amount of land farmed – phased out from 2021.
It will be replaced with a new system that rewards farmers for the ‘public goods’ they provide, such as better air and water quality, improved access to the countryside and measures to reduce flooding.
The grants have been awarded following a competitive process from September to November 2019.
The projects will be carried out by Bishop Grosseteste University, Brown & Co , Devon County Council , Ricardo-AEA , RSK-ADAS , Soil Association and SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College).
