Team PCF visit Newton St Loe
August 8, 2022
The Prince’s Countryside Fund were delighted to be in Newton St Loe on August 4th and 5th meeting with and being hosted by The Duchy of Cornwall and The Ripple Effect (formerly known as Send a Cow).
On Thursday 4th August, we had the pleasure of meeting with some of the fantastic team at The Duchy of Cornwall, based in Bath. We had a fascinating morning listening to different members of their rural team discussing how they are supporting their tenants through the agricultural transition.
Lunch was then provided by Newton Farm Shop who are a family farm, and tenants of The Duchy of Cornwall. This brought to life the importance of our work to encourage family farms to thrive whilst supporting the British farming industry.
After lunch, we headed out for a farm walk. It was great to experience the countryside, trailing through fields and meeting the farmers from the Newton Farm Shop who shared their experiences and explained how they were advancing their farming practices to prepare themselves for the future.
Our day finished back at the Newton Farm Shop for yet another delicious and local meal!
On Friday 5th, we met with Ripple Effect, an organisation that brings together small holder farmers across six African countries to learn new skills and share knowledge to improve their livelihoods.
We had an introductory session held by CEO, Paul Stuart from Ripple Effect who discussed their key areas of work across east Africa. It was particularly interesting to hear first hand from Ripple Effect colleagues based across east Africa who highlighted the development of farming in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
After this, Keith Halstead, our Executive Director and Beth Summers, Senior Programmes Manager spoke about The PCF’s work and our farming programmes such as our Farm Resilience Programme and here we began to understand the synergies we share.
Following these sessions, we had a networking lunch where we got to know members of the Ripple Effect team before our final session discussing our grant programme and seeking ways to continuously improve the various areas of our work.
Thank you to The Duchy of Cornwall, Ripple Effect and Newton Farm Shop for hosting us over the two days!
