Support for farmers to boost their resilience to severe weather
Farming Minister George Eustice will discuss a range of measures being taken to help farmers increase their resilience.
New measures to help farmers increase their resilience
Farming Minister George Eustice will discuss a range of measures being taken to help farmers increase their resilience at a speech to the Northern Farming Conference in Hexham today.
The measures range from encouraging local groups of farmers to share information, to developing tailored weather forecasts and information for farmers.
This work has led to the publication of a Met Office-hosted Get Ready for Winter webpage targeted specifically at farm businesses. This new webpage will give farmers accurate and up-to-date information on the weather coming their way to help them to protect their crops and livestock.
This follows a ten-point action plan to help farmers prepare for risks to their business, which was developed by major banks, farming charities and farming representatives at the Farming Resilience Summit earlier this year.
The summit was convened by Environment Secretary Owen Paterson following the bad weather that placed particular financial pressures on many of Britain’s farmers.
Farming Minister George Eustice said:
The farming industry has always had to contend with risk but the harsh winter last year had a devastating impact on many farmers. As we enter winter it is essential we do all we can to support the industry in its efforts to prepare and plan to mitigate risks. The Met Office’s Get Ready for Winter webpage is an example of joint working to make our industry more resilient.