An Evening of Farming, Funding, and the Future

One of Cumbria’s leading Agri businesses, the H&H Group, has announced that it is to hold a Forty Farms Open Evening and Farm discussion at the Forty Farms Gallery, Rheged, Penrith.  As we come to the end of the year, the evening will be led by three of the group’s businesses, Harrison & Hetherington , H&H Land & Estates and H&H Insurance Brokers , who together will round-up what has been a challenging year for farmers, whilst focussing on the future opportunities.

Open to all, this free to attend festive farming event will take place on Wednesday 30^th November commencing at 7pm.

With the backdrop of the Forty Farms Exhibition, by Cumbrian photographer Amy Bateman who in March 2021 was awarded British Life Photographer of the Year, the evening will cover a range of trending topics including a brief yearly-round-up of livestock trends, future funding and finance options.  

• Scott Donaldson, Managing Director of Harrison & Hetherington will give an overview and his thoughts for the future on livestock trading, and where Harrison & Hetherington position themselves.
• Jonathan Hird, Associate and Chartered Surveyor at H&H Land & Estates will cover agri support schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and if announced, details of the Slurry Investment Scheme.
• Chris Clements from H&H Insurance Brokers will consider  Asset Management opportunities and how this finance can dovetail with the current agri schemes.  

Commenting ahead of the event, Chief Executive of the H&H Group, Richard Rankin, said: “Under the backdrop of forty farms, a celebration of where Cumbria excels, we want to bring together both the farmers and the rural community to recognise the challenges we’ve faced and overcome over the last 11 months and, more importantly, to explore and learn from this and take an optimistic look to the years ahead for the Agri industry. ”

On completion of the presentations, the remainder of the evening is free to network with H&H staff whilst enjoying a private viewing of the Forty Farms Exhibition which features many familiar farming faces from the area. Forty Farms is the culmination of two year’s work for Amy which features over 500 images of Cumbrian farming in all seasons, as well as capturing frank conversations with farmers and the farming community about the change in the working landscapes of Cumbria and the challenges they face from financial to balancing food production in a nature-rich environment.

Richard adds: “The Forty Farms Exhibitions provides the perfect setting for the evening and it was an obvious choice for us as a business to support given the nature of the project and the work conducted by Amy. The book really addresses the challenges faced by the Cumbrian farming community, but also highlights just how resilient and progressive it also is. There will undoubtedly be challenges ahead, but this exhibition is proof that we can work together to overcome these and push forwards.”

The evening is FREE for all to attend, however, places will be limited and for the purpose of catering, please RSVP to [email protected] by Monday 28^th November.