The Agricultural Development Team is an Objective One funded project, sponsored by Cornwall Enterprise, designed to create a team of dedicated personnel tasked with assisting the agricultural, horticultural, food and land based industries access to Objective One funds. Operating under the direct steer of the Agricultural Task Force, which itself is made up of the board of the Cornwall Agricultural Council, the team will ensure that the industries' strategic objectives are met and that the allocation of funds is fully committed.

Summary
The Agricultural Development Team has now been in post for 18 months and is already beginning to make an impact in the successful delivery of Objective One European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Funds.

With an annual target of approximately £20,000,000 worth of projects to develop, there has been no time for delays and the team started work immediately assisting the agricultural sector, in its widest sense, to access Objective One funding. Working to the Agricultural Task Force Strategy, each member of the team has their own area of expertise and together they form a very powerful and proactive resource dedicated to the on-going development and support of the agricultural, horticultural, food and land based industries.

Currently they are working with a number of project promoters to develop their ideas and turn them into successful Objective One applications. Projects coming forward are quite diverse and include dairy processing, food parks, farm infrastructure, machinery sharing, electronic identification of cattle, training, farm diversification, farm tourism, organic farming and information technology.

However, the team is always looking for new ideas and is in post to assist with the process of applying for Objective One. As they are fully funded by Objective One there is no charge for their advice and they should be the first port of call for all enquiries regarding agriculture and related businesses. They will carry out an initial eligibility check and then either assist you personally or refer you to other forms of assistance. David Rodda says; "Many farmers and rural businesses feel that Objective One will not help them and do not contact us to discuss their ideas. This is a wasted opportunity and whilst there are some areas that are not eligible for support there is a wide range of support on offer. The team is here for your benefit so make use of us".

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Latest news
The following case studies are examples of projects where the Cornwall Agricultural Council Development Team have worked to implement Objective One funding to bring about diversification of activity in the land-based sector. Click on the each of the titles below to view the case studies.

St Ingunger Farm Farm Building Refurbishment (235kb)
South Helford Machinery Syndicate (658kb)
Kernow Miscanthus (673kb)
Neet Foods Ltd development of cheese processing creamery (678kb)
Pengelly Farms Ltd elite seed potato project (742kb)

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Cornwall Agricultural Council Website:

www.cornwallagriculturalcouncil.org.uk

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Newsletter June 2005 (104kb)

You will require Acrobat Reader to view the PDF: click here to download it for free.

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