Policy work

The RASE and the Fellows and Associates of the Royal Agricultural Societies have agreed to pool their skills and resources to look at issues relevant to the industry and to help develop a secure future for the sector.

This partnership started in 2003 with a meeting to look at the output of the Curry Commission and the response to this from the industry and Defra, including the Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food. The objective was to undertake a balanced analysis of what had been done and what extra action was required to ensure progress was made; and to pass these recommendations to Margaret Beckett.

The Constructive Management of Change conference, held at Stoneleigh Park in November 2004, was the second major project undertaken by this group, with the Royal Smithfield Club. It addressed the implications of change in the rural sector as a whole, and the knock on effect of change from one area of rural activity to another.

An agenda was agreed to help the industry manage farming change better. Several initiatives were taken up including a national meeting of the Rural Hubs, the setting-up of a group to improve information flows about the social impacts of rural change and an annual meeting where the three organisations will report back their findings to DEFRA.

In November 2005 a ‘People in Farming’ conference meet to discuss an agenda produced by the group, this aimed to improve the way farming manages its people.

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