Rural Training April 18, 2013 12:00 am DEFRA is giving a boost to rural training through the current Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE). Two initiatives have been announced. The Skills and Knowledge Transfer Framework will see £20 million available to allow around 90,000 people working in the agriculture, horticulture and forestry sectors to attend subsidised courses. Training will be focussed on the following themes; Business management, leadership and ICT skills Knowledge transfer, innovation and technical skills Agricultural animal health and welfare Marketing and supply chain efficiencies Resource use efficiency Traditional rural skills and rural tourism. Delivery will be via a number of training providers and may take the form of courses, workshops, seminars, mentoring, conferences etc. DEFRA will fund 70% of the costs. More information can be found at http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/funding-sources/skills-and-training/training-and-skills-potential-applicants DEFRA has also made available a further £490,000 to the AHDB to provide skills and training within the arable sector, including horticulture and top fruit. In addition, this money will be matched-funded by the industry and will fund 25,000 hours of training for more than 2,000 farmers across England. Training will be through workshops and seminars and will be divided to provide training for growers and for agronomists & advisors. For growers, events will focus on advanced husbandry, maintaining soil structure, producing to a specification, optimising value, crop rotation and choice. The events for agronomists and advisors will focus on understanding the factors affecting productivity including technical and research updates. The events will take place between January 2013 and March 2014.
