Feeding body and soul in a church without walls

TEA and sympathy do not come very high on the agenda for Rev Canon Alan Robson. But delivering solutions to problems facing the rural communities of the county, however, is something of a specialty.

As the agricultural chaplain for Lincolnshire, he has steadily built relationships with a wide range of people.

“While I don’t have the answer to everyone’s problems, I can often point them in the right direction, offer guidance and ensure everything is dealt with properly.

With his contacts book stretching to most of the county’s land agents and solicitors – who are involved in much of his daily work – he can often smooth the way and offer free and confidential advice to those who need it.

It is 10 years since Alan took on the role and the past decade has seen huge challenges for agriculture: not least the end of BSE, foot-and-mouth and the pig-wasting disease, PMWS, which affected the county particularly badly.

Food production

To put his work into context, Lincolnshire covers 2,700 square miles, has a population of 650,000 and its main industry is food production. A significant number of its farmers are tenants, who have a mix of the county council, the Church, big estates and private owners as their landlords.

During his time in the job, Alan has seen the number of dairy and pig farmers halve and has become involved in many issues farmers can find themselves facing.

“I get asked to help out in all sorts of situations, including death, illness, bankruptcy, eviction and family disputes, where I can often act as a neutral mediator.

“But I wasn’t long into the job when I realised I couldn’t do it alone, it was such a huge area and the need was so great.”

As a result, Alan was instrumental in setting up the Lincolnshire Rural Stress Network, a charity which now has a full-time project manager, a part-time nurse and over 30 volunteers – eight of whom visit farms with the remainder operating a telephone helpline.

Another of his projects is Integration Lincolnshire, an initiative set up to support vulnerable workers in the food and agricultural sector.

“Lincolnshire has about 30,000 immigrant workers. It needs them and mostly, local people are tolerant of them.

Coping with migration

“Most are reasonably well-looked after, about 25-30 per cent settle here, about 50 per cent migrate back and forth and about 20 per cent slip through the net. It is the latter who need the support.

“Something I would like to see introduced is a skills passport, which would acknowledge what all the employees have achieved and allow them to progress up the employment ladder.

Alongside this, there is a focus on sourcing funding to build-up cost-effective interpretation and translation services within these communities.

“A constant challenge is making sure any money available is made real use of and doesn’t disappear on administration.”

It was Alan’s vision which sparked the building of the award-winning, EPIC Centre on Lincolnshire’s agricultural showground.

The low carbon conference and visitor centre has not only helped secure the future of the showground, but acts as a flagship for the Environment, People, Innovation and Choices (EPIC) Project, which raises the profile of climate change initiatives across Lincolnshire.

Alan is prominent at many rural events in the county and says people often don’t approach him directly, but after meeting him, may give him a call later with a problem.

Tenancy and retirement issues take up a good deal of his time and he feels strongly about how farmers join and leave the industry.

“There should be a way of farmers exiting the industry with dignity when the time comes and, although some achieve this, too many don’t.

“Likewise, there is currently no mechanism to enable young people to start up in farming.

“How do we get people like landlords and banks to provide opportunities for young people, who are passionate about farming and research, to get into the industry?

New entrants

“Perhaps landlords, such as the Church and county councils, could make a number of their farms available to new entrants. But that is not enough, they must have access to capital.

“There needs to be some form of grants, loans and tax breaks available, which enables them to make a start. This is vital for the long-term future of the industry.”

Alan clearly has a passion for Lincolnshire and its people, but he is not a native.

Originating from Consett, Co. Durham, he worked in the steel industry, but redundancy led to him becoming involved in voluntary work, and immediately, he knew he had found his niche.

A spell at Cliff College was followed by work as a lay preacher, among the fishing community in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

From there, he attended Wesley College, Bristol, to train as a Methodist minister. He was posted to Barton-upon-Humber in north Lincolnshire, and has remained in the county since.

Shifts in farm shop Alan’s wife, Denise, has family who own a pig farm, and they both remain actively involved – Alan spends his Saturdays at work in the farm shop.

Although he is responsible for a small chapel in Wragby, he takes services of all kinds throughout the county.

He has now been made an Anglican Canon and acts as rural adviser to the Bishop of Lincoln. But he believes very much in ‘a church without walls’ and sees his role in meeting the needs of the community as his priority.

“I feel the Church should challenge all priests to become more engaged with the predominant industry of their community.”

Alan has recently been short-listed for the Country Person of the Year, which came as somewhat of a surprise.

Fortunate and privileged

“I don’t know who nominated me, but I just feel fortunate and privileged to have been asked by the Church to do this work. I love the Lincolnshire landscape and its people.

“However, I am an ideas person – I don’t do the detail, just try to put structures in place for others to do that, but I do try to make things happen to meet the needs of this community.

“The next decade will bring its own challenges and the most entrepreneurial farmers will be successful, but there needs to be a support system in place for those who can’t cope.

“We need big producers, but we also need to keep diversity, and there is still the need for small and medium-sized farmers to supply local needs.”

Always looking for the next challenge, Alan has a long-term vision for a network of farmer’s supermarkets, which would be the next step on from farmer’s markets.

Having given it some serious thought, it could be run by farmers who make efficient use of capital and logistics and provide real customer service, plus securing a sustainable future for themselves

“Perhaps to set up this project could be my New Year’s resolution,” he says. “That and to drink less whiskey.”

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