RABI launches new training project

The Gateway project is aimed at farmers and farm workers and will provide funding for training and certification of skills, which can be used to generate extra funds to help keep low-income farms going.

Already operating successfully in other parts of the country, the charity hopes the scheme will help Cornish farmers who are suffering financially to help themselves out of difficulty.

RABI’s regional officer Philippa Spackman said: “Though the prospects for many farmers are good, some, especially in Cornwall, earn way below the national average wage and live on or near the poverty line.

“People who work on the land have a vast range of transferable skills which they could develop to supplement their farm income, if they could only afford to get training and certification.

“The Gateway project funds farmers and farm workers with limited personal savings and low incomes so that they can, for example, convert their knowledge of driving farm machinery into an HGV licence which they can then use to earn money off-farm.”

Farmworkers who are being made redundant or are unable to continue in their job due to sickness or disability may also be funded to re-train, as well as family members who can demonstrate that gaining formal recognition of their skills will make a lasting difference to the farm’s future.

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