FARMING HELP CHARITIES SEEK FARMERS’ VIEWS ON CURRENT CHALLENGES IN FARMING

The Farming Help charities (The Farming Community Network and Addington Fund) are seeking the views of UK farmers - to help ensure their support and services continue to meet the evolving needs of farming people.

The charities have launched a new survey to gather feedback directly from farmers. This includes assessing which areas are most pressing or causing the most stress – such as succession planning, mental health and wellbeing, labour shortages or financial sustainability.

Farming Help is a collaboration between national agricultural charities Addington Fund (England and Wales) and The Farming Community Network (UK-wide). The overarching aim of Farming Help is to facilitate good collaborative working practices by the national farming charities to the benefit of the wider agricultural community. You can learn more about Farming Help here: https://www.farminghelp.co.uk/

As the charities embark on their new organisational strategies, they wish to ensure that their support services continue to meet the real, present-day needs of the farming community – whilst identifying any gaps in support that may be present.

This survey follows a similar survey FCN conducted in 2021, the findings of which helped to inform the charity’s work over the following years. 2025 marks FCN’s 30^th anniversary since its founding in 1995.

Dr Jude McCann, Chief Executive Officer of The Farming Community Network, said: “Against a backdrop of market volatility, political uncertainty and a rapidly changing climate, the support provided by FCN and Addington Fund is arguably needed now more than ever before. With so much change affecting our sector, it is important we listen and learn directly from our farming community, and do what we can to accommodate farmers’ individual needs.

“We all wish to see farmers thrive, both now and in the future. We are showing the value of a collaborative approach by teaming up with Addington Fund as part of the Farming Help alliance in order to conduct this important survey, and we encourage farmers and farming families to share their views.”

Sue English, Fund Director of Addington Fund, said: “We receive calls daily from farmers and those living and working in rural areas who need help. As we near our 25^th anniversary, we want to be certain that we are meeting the current needs of this community fully, whether that be by helping directly or ensuring that we collaborate with our fellow farming charities, such as our friends at FCN, to provide that support.

“I’d encourage everyone in the farming sector to make their voices heard and tell us how charities can best help them when they need support. Those views are vital to develop our strategies to ensure support is easily and readily available in times of need.”

The survey is available here (deadline 30^th April 2025): https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZJKGVK7

It should take no more than 10 minutes to complete the survey, and responders can enter a draw to win a £50 M&S gift card.

Responses are crucial in ensuring that agricultural charities can respond effectively to the needs of the industry.