North East based GSC Grays have been chosen to deliver professional advice to farmers in the North of England as part of Defra’s £32m Future Farming Resilience Fund (FFRF) which is scheduled to start in the autumn.

Defra is making the fund available to support 32,000 farm businesses with grants to deliver free consultancy services to farmers following the gradual removal of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

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GSC Grays, an independent firm of Farm Business Consultants and Land Agents, will offer their expertise to around 1,650 farms in the North of England through consultancy visits and workshops.

Guy Coggrave, managing director at GSC Grays, said: “We are looking at offering a more engaged longer-term approach to each business.

"What we found from the initial phase was there is quite a significant amount of farming businesses that really needed support in a more bespoke way to suit their business’s requirements rather than a fixed model.

“We intend to reach 1,650 farms in the North of England and the range of services we will offer includes one-to-one consultancy visits -up to two and a half days of time - as well as follow on assistance via workshops, webinars and business group meetings.”

The final round of funding is due to run from October 2022 until March 2025 with GSC Grays’ free advice service available to BPS recipients in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and the North Midlands.

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