Issue - meetings

To receive a presentation from the Apricot Centre.

Rachel Phillips from the Apricot Centre provided the Group with a presentation which included the following information:

·       They were a bio-organic farm which as well as growing and selling produce offered an education service, training opportunities and a well-being service. Their aim was to work with as many farms across Devon as possible.

·       They had applied for and been successful in obtaining, Shared Prosperity Funding from the Council and were thriving in all of their ventures.

·       The farm spread across 200 acres.

·       They offered different training opportunities, such as knowledge sharing workshops, with community focus being very much at the heart of what they did.

·       Increasing biodiversity and reducing carbon impacts were key priorities.

·       They worked a lot with new entrant farmers and provided free consultancy and mentoring services in such areas as farm design and farm book keeping.

·       Some farmers needed the validation of a professional qualification and the Apricot Centre offered this. The centre offered a wide range of respected qualifications.

·       They were trail blazers and grateful for the support from the District Council who in helping to provide the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) funding they needed were helping them to create rural skills for rural communities.

·       Long term funding was needed however to facilitate the continuation of this good work.

·       Soil testing was another area of focus trying to establish how soils capture carbon through soil symbiosis and the study of this in a laboratory.

·       The Centre also offered clinical therapy in a ‘non-clinical’ setting to a range of age groups.

Consideration was given to:

·       There were 22 core members of staff and the Centre currently had a £1.5m turnover figure.

·       They would be able to continue without funding from the SPF as they had secured some funding for next year, however, they would not be able to offer as much education. They aimed to offer courses free of charge to farmers in particular as it did not seem fair to set framers off with a huge training debt before they had even started their careers.

·       The importance of children knowing where their food comes from.

·       Wildlife tracking was also important, people and wildlife all being part of the same ecosystem.

·        They had worked with primary schools to create poly tunnels and raised vegetable areas. It was important to get the whole community involved. Also, involvement at an early age was vital. The Centre worked with schools to ensure they fitted in with the school curriculum.

The Chair thanked the representatives from the Apricot Centre for their attendance and for providing an interesting presentation. The information was NOTED.

Note: Cllr A Stirling declared a personal interest (subsequent to the meeting) in that he had attended a course with the Apricot Centre prior to them being in receipt of any SPF funding via the Council. He had paid for the course himself several years ago.