Aldi and The Royal Countryside Fund
Aldi are proud to partner with The Royal Countryside Fund whose vision is of thriving family farms and rural communities, encouraged and recognised for their role in creating a sustainable future for the countryside and our whole nation.
What is The Royal Countryside Fund?
Founded by HM King Charles III in 2010, The Royal Countryside Fund exists to empower family farms and rural communities to survive and thrive. The countryside - what is does, what it produces and what it offers - has an impact on us all. Working together, we can help those who look after the British countryside to safeguard its future.
Since partnering in 2018, Aldi has donated over £745,000 to the RCF to deliver support to the farming community via its Farm Resilience Programme and community grants. In 2022, we also supported the RCF to co-design and deliver our joint initiative, Opening the Gate, designed to support new entrants and young people to enter and succeed in the agricultural industry.
At Aldi we recognise the increasing pressure our farmers are under, with an ageing working population, trade implications and economic challenges driving some farmers out of the industry. That’s why we are partners of The Royal Countryside Fund, to support small family farms and rural communities to become more resilient to these challenges.
Supporting British farming is something we have always done at Aldi. Teaming up with The Royal Countryside Fund to support the vital work of its Farm Resiliance Programme is a natural extension of that.
By working directly with family-run farms across the UK, Aldi and The Royal Countryside Fund not only help farmers to do better business but also to safeguard the future sustainability of the British farming industry.
Supporting new entrants and young people to succeed in agriculture
The Royal Countryside Fund and Aldi co-created a support initiative – Opening the Gate – helping young people and new entrants enter, and succeed in, the agricultural industry.
The programme focused on several key barriers and challenges preventing people from succeeding in agriculture, including work experience and networking, informed by research undertaken by The Royal Countryside Fund and Aldi UK.
Opening the Gate consists of a series of virtual workshops that aim to equip young people and new entrants with the skills, confidence, and networks to succeed in farming, and the wider agricultural industry.
The Farm Resilience Programme
We are strategic sponsors of The Royal Countryside Fund’s Farm Resilience Programme, which helps family farms to improve their skills and knowledge of business and environmental management. This is delivered through a series of workshops hosted by expert consultants on effective day-to-day management of their business, with topics including managing your farmed environment, planning for your future and practical cost management. Participating farms also benefit from one-to-one on-farm support for their specific situations in order to implement improvements.
Since 2018, Aldi’s sponsorship has supported over 210 farming families via the Farm Resilience Programme across the UK. The Farm Resilience Programme aims to bring disconnected and remotely-located family farm businesses together to improve their confidence and ability to run long-term and sustainable businesses. It is the only scheme of its kind intended to help small family farms in the UK.
Britain’s Upland Farms
The uplands are elevated areas of the English, Scottish and Welsh countryside. The land is more challenging to farm and is usually situated in fragile and remote locations. Upland farming is the driving factor for these local economies and so must be well-maintained and developed, which is something The Prince’s Countryside Fund aims to achieve.
Meet Our Farmers
Iain Cruden
Iain Cruden took part in the Farm Resilience Programme in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. He farms with his family in Aberdeenshire on a 200-acre farm that puts around 90-acres to a barley crop and the remainder is grazing for 65 beef cattle and 240 ewes.
He said: “I would recommend the Farm Resilience Programme to everyone, young or old, new to farming or been in the industry for years. It helps to break the mould. All of the workshops have been very informative and we were able to take something away from every single one. The programme has been brilliant, and we’re so glad to have had the opportunity to take part in it.”
Brecon: Anwen Hughes
Anwen manages 400 sheep on 140 acres near Llanarth, in South Wales, with her partner, Rhodri. They heard about The Prince’s Farm Resilience Programme on Facebook and even though their group met in Brecon, a 3-hour round trip away, they were keen to attend. “We were really intrigued to learn more about our own business, particularly with Brexit around the corner. We’ve had some doubts about our sheep enterprise and whether we were spending too much money on it. The most important thing for us was making cost efficiencies and increasing our profit.”
“The Business Health Check tool taught us not to be afraid of the changes required for our business. It reassured us that where we already wanted to make changes, was the right way to go. We’ve been considering getting some cows to help with our soil health.” When asked about how the Programme helped them plan for the future, Anwen said that “Rather than dwelling on previous mistakes, it’s helped us to learn from them and move on.”
