Find a Farmer to FixIt (From Smallholder)

Find a Farmer to FixIt

1:43pm Wednesday 1st September 2010 in

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Want a handyman? Or a capable Miss Fixit? Why not find a farmer and help to keep people on the land and in farming as well as help yourself.

The idea is based on the model successfully operating in countries such as Germany and Austria and is being piloted in Pembrokeshire by PMR Ltd, The Machinery Ring, in partnership with PLANED. The Rural Skills Resource project has European funding and aims to provide a pool of labour even for such everyday things as shopping and ironing.

PMR General Manager Graham Perkins says it’s an exciting challenge to match the considerable and versatile range of skills among farmers with the demands of the community. He anticipates ready demand for skills that are taken for granted by farming families.

He added: "Farmers take for granted skills such as hedge trimming, mole and vermin control, garden maintenance as well as more general areas such as odd jobs, book keeping and even catering. There is a very real opportunity to make extra money by providing a paid service to meet the considerable demand existing in the county.

"I’m determined to make this work and ensure that it will be self sustaining beyond the European funding which PLANED have secured. We need to find something for people to do outside the busy contracting season if we are to keep people on the land and available for the agricultural industry."

He said such schemes worked well in places like Bavaria and Austria where people worked on farms in the summer and on snow clearance and biomass in off peak periods. The challenge in Wales was to find other areas of work, as well as to work out ways of funding the administration of such a scheme in the long term.

Farmers and their family members are invited to register their skills with PMR. There is no charge at this stage and pay rates are negotiated between the worker and the customer.

For further information please contact PMR Ltd, The Machinery Ring on the Rural Skills Resource direct line 01437 725062.

PLANED contacts are Sarah Diment 01834 862107 Liz Thomas 01834 862113 This pilot project is funded by the EU and the Welsh Assembly Government