Upland Farming Traineeship

Farming at Hethpool

The Northumberland National Park Authority Upland Farming Traineeship is a farm based training programme (one year pilot). Its aim is to provide an opportunity for people to learn upland farming skills (which are at present in danger of being lost) and to start the process of providing a future generation of people with a strong motivation to succeed in farming the Northumberland Uplands.

Northumberland National Park Authority carried out wide ranging consultation when formulating the 2009 – 2014 Management Plan. As part of this consultation the Authority spoke to the Park communities at meetings that included farmers, landowners and young people. One major message that was drawn out of the consultation process was the concern surrounding the lack of opportunity for people to learn the upland farming skills of their fathers and grandfathers.

The farming community were particularly concerned about where the next generation of farmers were going to come from, which is a real problem with the average age of farmers in Northumberland currently in the late 50s.

There is a genuine need and widespread support for this project amongst young people and farmers in Northumberland National Park.

The project would not have been possible without the support of the local farming communities, particularly the 12 host farms, and the partnership work and support from Northumberland College. This project is funded by LandSkills North East  as part of the  Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), which is funded by Defra and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)