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In this briefing -
To register your interest in any of the items below, or further information please contact:
Caroline Pinchbeck, Diocesan Rural Life and Environmental Adviser
Email: cpinchbeck@diocant.org
Post: The Rectory, Newnham Lane, Eastling, Faversham ME13 0AS
Telephone: 01795 890487 Mobile: 0789 443 4032
County Harvest Service - Sunday 2 October 2011
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The annual County Harvest service will be held in the Cathedral on Sunday 2 October at 6.30pm in the Cathedral. The sermon will be preached by the Baroness Byford who is a widely-known advocate of rural issues. She is on the EU select committee for Food, Farming and Rural Affairs. She is, and has been patron and president of a number of rural organisations.
Agricultural Wages Board Changes - 1 October 2011
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The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) has existed for many years to set minimum pay rates for the 140,000 farm workers in the UK. A new Agricultural Wages Order comes into force on 1 October 2011, specifying the minimum rates of pay within the industry. Full details are available from the AWB but the minimum rate for grade 1 workers over compulsory school age will rise by 2.5% to £6.10, and the pay rates for grades 2 to 6 will also rise by 2.9%. The government has issued proposals to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board, a move opposed by the Labour Party.
Rural Ministry Training at the Arthur Rank Centre
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This year's course is to be held on 1 to 3 November. There are a few final spaces. For more information and a booking form, contact Katrina Seeley - KatrinaS@arthurrankcentre.org.uk or www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
Village SOS - Funding possibilities
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Village SOS Active is a campaign by the Big Lottery Fund. It is being delivered by the Plunkett Foundation in partnership with Co-operatives UK, Locality and Action with Communities in Rural England. The campaign will see dedicated expert advisers provide guidance to people inspired by the programme to set up and run their own community enterprises. Enterprises set up by groups of rural residents could include village shops, pubs, broadband services, transport schemes, library services or healthcare services. Meanwhile, the Big Lottery Fund has launched a competition for 250 community enterprises to win between £10,000 and £30,000 to kick start their business. The competition will open at the end of August and close in early October. It aims to encourage business ideas that will bring rural people together to support activities and enterprises that will tackle the challenges they face. www.villagesos.org.uk and www.ruralkent.org.uk
KCC - Deadline for Community Grants
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The deadline for KCC's Small Community Grants is 31 October. The grants are available to parish and town councils, district councils and KCC, voluntary and community groups, churches, societies and charities.
Small Community Capital Grants
This fund is available to formally constituted organisations in Kent that wish to obtain money for capital works connected with a project that will bring community benefit. Maximum application is £20,000.
Local Schemes Grants
This fund is available to formally constituted organisations in Kent that wish to obtain money for minor capital or revenue connected with a project that will bring community benefit.
Both of these schemes offer one-off and non-recurring payments with no on-going revenue or capital commitments. An organisation cannot apply for additional grant for the same project in a subsequent year. An organisation can put forward more than one project at a time for each fund, but will usually only receive a grant for one project in any year.
For more information on these schemes go to
www.kent.gov.uk/community_and_living/community_grants_and_funding.aspx or contact your local KCC Community Liaison Officer.
Marks and Spencer - Looking for a Community Project
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Marks and Spencer are looking for a one-day volunteer project that 15 of their store managers could take part in! The day needs to take place between February and March 2012, and can be anywhere in the UK - preferably Kent! If your organisation could put this team to good use, please contact Catherine Croston - manager for M&S at the McArthur Glenn Outlet in Ashford, on 01233 662418.
Commodity sector updates
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An annual survey, carried out by DairyCo on behalf of the dairy sector, suggests that 1,600 farmers, more than 10% of dairy farmers, plan to leave the sector. Almost half cite the lack of profitability as the main reason amidst concern over low milk prices and rising input costs. These figures equate to 2.2 farmers quitting the sector per day. Almost a third of respondents, however, plan to increase production, the majority being younger, specialist dairy farmers. Milk production in Great Britain could fall by up to 4% within the next two years.
The UK may face a shortage of malting barley as the winter and spring crops suffered from poor yield and high nitrogen content, contrasting with 2010 when we exported 250,000t. Yields overall are down by c20% and many of the crops contain Nitrogen above the 1.9% required by maltsters and brewers. Malting premiums have doubled from 2010 with spring varieties worth £50/t over feed crops.
New crop potato prices have slumped leaving many growers facing losses. A small increase in plantings, coupled with an excellent growing season for potatoes which brought forward the main crop harvest by about two weeks, has led to significant oversupply. The free-buy average price of potatoes at the end of July was just over £105/t, over £80/t lower than in 2010. For those growers who had fulfilled their contract obligations, any free-market potatoes left over were being sold for as little as £40/t in some places.
Bovine TB Update
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Opposition is growing to the government's proposed badger cull to help combat bovine tuberculosis. A campaign group called 38 Degrees (www.38Degrees.org.uk) has launched an online petition which has attracted many thousands of signatures. The pressure group claims to have 800,000 members and also claims that it was instrumental in blocking proposals for the UK's first "super dairy", a 3,770 cow herd, in Nocton, Lincolnshire, earlier this year (see also protest against "mega-farms" below). At least 82 MPs have also signed an Early Day Motion opposing the badger cull. Similar anti-cull petitions have been lodged by the League Against Cruel Sports and the RSPCA. In response the NFU has launched its own website, (www.TBFreeEngland.co.uk) and further information about the proposed cull is available on the Farmers Weekly website (www.fwi.co.uk/badgercull). The government's Chief Veterinary Officer, Nigel Gibbens, has posted a response on the 38 Degrees website supporting the scientific basis for a cull.
Rural crime statistics
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Data from the NFU Mutual indicate the worth of machinery and livestock stolen from farms last year totalled almost £50m, an increase of 17% over 2009. Theft of tractors, heating oil and fuel are growing.
Farmer optimism
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The results of a recent NFU survey show that the industry is generally positive about the future. When questioned, 51% stated that they were either 'a little' or 'much more' confident in the prospects for the industry over the next 5 years compared with the situation in the past 12 months. When the same question was asked last year only 37% of farmers expressed a positive outlook.
USPG - Come Dine With Me campaign go to top of page
An opportunity for churches and individuals to enjoy food, fun and fellowship. You could host a church bring and share meal, coffee morning, dinner party, Harvest supper or barbecue. www.uspg.org.uk
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