Launch of Prince’s Countryside Fund Land Rover Bursary Scheme HRH The Prince of Wales meets Cumbria’s farmers of the future at launch of The Prince’s Countryside Fund Land Rover Bursary Scheme. RH The Prince of Wales met with a group of Cumbrian young farmers learning practical flood resilience driving skills at the Rookin House Activity Centre near Penrith. The visit marks a renewed three-year partnership between his charity, The Prince’s Countryside Fund and Land Rover with this year’s launch of The Prince’s Countryside Fund Land Rover bursary scheme. This valuable bursary seeks to award up to five inspiring young people aged 21 to 35 the use of a Land Rover Discovery Sport for a year to support the development of their countryside careers.
“There’s an acute need for young people to be supported to enter farming and related careers and a multitude of opportunity waiting for them” The UK countryside is in desperate need of talented young people. The average age of a British farmer is 59 and only 4% of the UK’s farmers are under 35. Environmental conservation requires an estimated 30,000 new entrants by 2020 to maintain and protect our countryside, while in forestry, 53% of the workforce is over the age of 40. During his visit to Cumbria, HRH The Prince of Wales joined the young farmers in their vehicle training as they developed skills in driving and reversing trailers in and around obstacles, learnt how to check water depth and flow of flooding before carefully driving through the water, and navigated their way around an off-road driving circuit. He also met Mark Curr, Helen Rebanks and her son Issac, the first recipients of the Land Rover Bursary in 2013, to find out how it benefited them. Mark runs a sheep enterprise and is the Chairman of Cumbria Young Farmers; an association that supports young farmers in the region. Helen