LandSkills South East

To get your hands on the money you need to be based in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey or West Sussex as a:

• Farmer or grower
• Forestry business owner or contractor
• Agricultural contractor
• Farm or forestry employee (including a migrant worker)
• Farm business owner that has diversified into rural tourism e.g. a rural B&B, farm shop or rural caravan site.

You must run, own or work in a business that spends at least 50% of its time in, or is dependent upon, agriculture, woodland, forestry, production horticulture or rural tourism.

You can get funded training for:

• Improving work practices and resource management
• Technical skills
• Complying with new legislation, including nutrient management
• Managing woodlands for fuel and economic benefit
• Leadership, business and financial management
• Primary processing in the agricultural and forestry industries
• Resource use, including waste reduction and management, water use, energy efficiency and bio-energy.

Get in touch now as the funding ends on 31 July 2011.

10 training providers deliver LandSkills training:

• Concorida
• ESUS
• Growtrain
• Harpshire Training Providers
• Laurence Gould
• Mid Kent Training
• Plumpton College
• Smithsgore
• Vale Training
• West Berks and Oxon Training

Call 08452 788800 for more details.

We manage LandSkills South East as part of Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

RDPE 2007-13 is jointly funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and defra, and has a budget of £3.9 billion.

£3.3 billion of this budget will help farmers to manage the land more sustainably and deliver important outcomes on biodiversity, landscape and access, water quality and climate change.

£600 million will help make agriculture and forestry more competitive and sustainable and enhance opportunity in rural areas.

Visit the defra website for more information.

Q. I ‘m about to leave school and want a career in agriculture. Can I use LandSkills to fund the training I need?
A.  You must be 16 or over and not be receiving any other funding stream e.g. an apprenticeship to access LandSkills. You must also be employed in either agriculture, forestry or production horticulture.

Q.  I’m a livestock farmer who needs training in EID?
A.  In the South East we don’t fund animal health and welfare programmes.  This is delivered by Livestock Health South East

Q.  I am a landscape gardener looking for training. Am I eligible for funding?
A.  No.

Q.  What happens if I don’t live in the South East?
A.  If you don’t live in the South East visit the Fund Finder to find out about other funding.

Q.  How can I get LandSkills updates?
A.  Register on the LandSkills website, to receive email updates and the LandSkills newsletter or follow us on Twitter.