Action 2
"The Executive, in partnership with the industry, will
review over the next six months the business advice
currently available to farmers in Scotland to ensure it is
addressing the priorities in this Strategy."
Progress
This review was completed and resulted in the
publication of A National Strategy for Farm Business Advice
and Skills in February 2003. The strategy was developed in
partnership with key stakeholders, including industry
representatives, advice and skills providers, regulators
and environmental non-government organisations. It is about
making available to farmers the right advice - high
quality, integrated "whole farm" advice - and encouraging
farmers to use that advice to improve their
performance.
Following a successful 6-month pilot project, started on
1 October 2003, the FarmBASS Whole Farm Review scheme was
formally launched in July 2004 offering grant-aided whole
farm business advice to up to 1,000 farmers per year. The
Farm Business Adviser Accreditation Scheme for Scotland was
launched in May 2004, to ensure that advisers delivering
the whole farm reviews have the right knowledge and skills
to provide high quality advice. The Enterprise Networks
provide the gateway to the whole farm review scheme. In
December 2004, SEERAD also launched the FarmBASS Local
Initiatives Fund to support Local Enterprise Companies in
setting up workshops to help farmers improve their business
development, planning and benchmarking skills.
Links
- National Strategy for Farm
Business Advice and Skills:-
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/agri/fbas-01.asp
Primary objective achieved. SEERAD and partner
organisations are now involved in the next phase of
implementing the results of the review.
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