A NEW Northumberland Farmer Network will be created thanks to a lottery funding boost.

The Farmer Network based in Cumbria and the Yorkshire Dales is celebrating after being awarded £358,874 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

The Farmer Network will use the funding to further develop their provision in Cumbria and to create a new Northumberland Farmer Network.

This new National Lottery funding will support the Farmer Network to work with local farmers and their families to improve connectivity, increase local skills and employability, build resilience and support farm businesses reacting to every challenge and every opportunity.

Farmers are being asked to learn and embrace new ways of working to enhance the natural environment whilst continuing to farm the land for food production.

Adam Day, Managing Director, The Farmer Network said: “With thanks to the National Lottery Players, this grant means that we can build our relationships much wider to bring people together, offer business support and improve well-being for the farming community.

He added: “The new network will be run by famers for the benefit of farmers. Our job is to facilitate and help manage the process. This is an exciting time for our organisation and we hope that we can make a difference to the lives of the farming and wider rural community.”

Slaggyford farmer Adam Watson, who farms is in Northumberland and is a Farmer Network steering group member, said: “There has never been a more important time to create a Farmer Network in Northumberland. This time of change in the farming industry away from Basic Payment to Environmental Land Management is new and challenging to most farming families, particularly in upland areas. I look forward to the support that the new network will offer in order to help us through”.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive. During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK. To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk