Guidance

Farming Resilience Fund: free business advice for your farm

Basic Payment Scheme recipients can get free advice from organisations during the changes in farming, supported by the Farming Resilience Fund.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

The Farming Resilience Fund provides business support to farmers and land managers in the first few years of adapting to agricultural transition. If you have received direct payments since October 2022, you can get this support and it is free of charge. It is designed to help you make the right business choices for the future.

How to get free advice

Find out which organisation can provide free business support in your area. The list is arranged by county. You’ll also be able to find out what type of advice each organisation can give you.

You can only receive support from one provider.

The support may be offered in various ways, ranging from group workshops supported by experts through to one-to-one advice.

How organisations can help you

These organisations are known and trusted in the farming community. Advisers can help you:

Advisers offer:

  • one-to-one consultations
  • farm visits
  • reports with recommendations
  • access to workshops, webinars and tours
  • networking opportunities so you can get help from other farmers

If you have technical difficulties accessing information about the organisations providing free business support, you can call the Defra helpline on 0345 933 5577.

Published 14 February 2022
Last updated 3 January 2024 + show all updates
  1. Added into the Details: You can only receive support from one provider.

  2. Amended Royal Countryside Fund details: changed areas The Farmer Network covers from 'Cumbria, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire' to 'Cumbria, Northumberland, Yorkshire Dales'; changed West Yorkshire county entry from 'The Royal Countryside Fund with The Farmer Network' to 'The Royal Countryside Fund virtual group'; added 'North York Moors National Park Authority' to RCF entry for North Yorkshire; added 'Northumberland National Park Authority' to RCF entry for Northumberland.

  3. Amended all references to The Prince's Countryside Fund to The Royal Countryside Fund in attachment about organisations who give advice, requested by SME.

  4. Added The Prince’s Countryside Fund virtual group to: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, East Riding of Yorkshire, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater London, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne & Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire. Requested by SME.

  5. Added local partners names for The Prince’s Countryside Fund into counties - Cheshire, Cornwall, County Durham, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, East Sussex, Herefordshire, Isles of Scilly, Lancashire, Norfolk, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Somerset, West Yorkshire. Requested by SME.

  6. Changed Devon County Council entry to providing help in 'All' farm sectors. Amended what help The Prince's Countryside Fund can offer.

  7. Removed section 'How the Resilience Fund works' and added some of this to 'How to get free advice' and 'How organisations can help you'. Reworded bullet 4 in attachment 'Organisations giving free advice in your area'.

  8. Removed details for Prince's Countryside Fund from Leicestershire and added Prince's Countryside Fund details to Isles of Scilly.

  9. Updated the counties list for the next phase of the Future Farming Resilience Fund. Updated organisation's contact details.

  10. What organisations can offer and for which counties has been updated for the next phase of the Future Farming Resilience Fund. Organisations' contact details have also been updated. Defra helpline telephone number has been included as a contact technical queries

  11. First published.