North West Activities

North West CAS Aim:
"To increase the desire for collaboration across the supply chain both vertically and horizontally resulting in increased levels of collaborative activity across North West"

The objectives of the service:-

• Increase the awareness of collaboration as a viable option for the future by delivering a number of events targeted at farmers across the region.
• Provide information, newsletters and advice to farmers, groups and potential groups involved in collaboration
• Work with the existing FCBs in the region to develop their businesses and make farmers aware of the role and encourage them to consider using the services of an FCB
• Work with sub regional partners, Advisory organisations such as Farming Connect Cumbria, Lancashire Rural Futures & Rural Enterprise Gateway and other organisations and agencies to implement strategic development needs for farming in the region.
• Increase in the number of farmers participating in supply (buying), marketing and production collaboration.
• Deliver the SSFF strategy for collaboration

The remit of the Collaborative Advisory Service (CAS) was to work with the existing FCBs in the region to improve their performance, raise the levels of awareness of the benefits of collaborative activity and provide a service to farmers that were looking to collaborate. In reality this remit is extremely broad as significant resource has been committed to the first two areas with little take up by FCBs and a lag in demand for the services we can offer.

The CAS has now been delivering support to develop collaborative activity for 18 months and currently finds itself behind the agreed plan in relation to the outputs that were agreed. This report outlines where the project has come from, what it has achieved to date, and projections for the remainder of the project and options for the future.

The project has had a number of successful initiatives and has put strong foundations in place for the development of collaborative activity in the region. Delivery over the past 18 months has demonstrated the type of activity which is most effective and given guidance for where future resource should be placed.

North West News - Summer 2007

North West News - Spring 2007