Rural Renaissance

Copyright Jamie MacAskill 2003 -2010

Rural RenaissancePresentation to central government official, NGO’s and international donor agencies within former

eastern bloc countries on EU accession

Dr.Jamie MacAskill

Preamble

• ….some people see things as they are and ask simply why…….I dream of things that might be and ask why not…

Presentation

• Rural Renaissance : a concept in waiting• Exemplars of Rural Renaissance in action

• Quest• Waymark• ADER

Rural Renaissance for Accession• Not just urban improvement

• Regionality rather than capitalcentric• Sustainable land reform

– Collaborative initiatives– Scales of economy– Alternative practices

• Social cohesion– SME’s key to stability although not necessarily GDP– Rural unemployment– Population migration– Skills erosion

• Sustainable supply chain improvements

• Business diversification• Sustainable competitive advantages• Vocational training

• Sensible and clear routes to funding• Funds have impact and necessary burn rates• Time is already running down for 2007

• Learn from others mistakes do not re-invent them

Rural Renaissance : a format• To create a Rural Development Consortium (RDC)

• Less talking more action• Changing mind sets

• To capitalise on in-country expertise to help the RDC develop and deliver programmes

• To use the our experience in building collaborative partnerships with institutions and companies to implement best practice solutions for the local conditions

• To develop project applications to donor agencies based on local partnerships

• Make it happen• Take burden of project development and management

• To strengthen project management and action planning• Catalyse linking together of donor, state and local needs

Rural Development Consortium

• Consortium• Investors

– Access to Government & EU funds streamlined• Trainers• Specialists

• Delivering national needs at local level• Dedicated to the development of the rural

economy• Extension services for the 21st century


• The RDC will provide a fast track building system for a swifter return on investment.

• The system methodology will be provided to local entrepreneurs with training and material sources.


• The RDC will actively promote the development of regional tourism together with its infrastructure, utilising local labour and products. Where training is needed the Consortium will source tutors and mentors to raise skill sets to international standards.

Exemplars

• Quality in Food Production and Marketing in Estonia (QUEST / Oma pood)

• Supply chain integration

• Waymark• Easing access to advice and services

• Agricultural Development in the Eastern region (ADER)

• Skills development & streamlining access to funds

QUEST / Oma pood

Partnership

• Commercial partners• State funders

• Ministry of Agriculture• Ministry of Tourism & Rural Development• Rural Development fund

• Universities & colleges• Private trainers and consultants• EU Phare funding• British Government UK Know How Fund

QUEST / OMA POOD

• Help with the development of new products and services.• Establishing membership of European Culinary Heritage by

rural areas.• Providing a sustainable financial/technical service to rural food

producers, service providers and retailers, so that technical and hygienic developments can be optimised within the anticipated availability of capital.

• Ensuring that rural products are widely available, both to the local population and to tourists and securing a larger market share for rural food producers, processors and rural tourism businesses.

Copyright Jamie MacAskill 2003

PartnersSeminars &

master classesBusiness

partner visitsBusiness financing

Outcomes

Improve business process

Business plan financing

Academic

Commercial

Market orientation

Value added

Curriculum Development

Workforce Development

QUEST/Oma Pood commercial partners

• Karme Ltd. - Karksi Brewery- beer and natural wine;• Vôru Farmers Union cheeses and vegetables;• Timber Ltd. meat products;• Pôltsamaa Dairy regional hard cheese• Viru Joogid Ltd. soft drinks, syrups, vodka;• Leedevälja LLC fish products;• Hiiumaa Dairy regional hard cheese: • Agdeck Ltd retail operations;• Järve Kaubamaja retail operations.


State funds

Municipal

EU

Project financing

QUEST / OMA POOD

• Self-sustaining business and extension service. (Using the existing network of Business Development Centres, Local farmers’ Unions and Consultants, capable of offering individual business planning, technical advice and product development services.)

• Financial, technical and hygienic development allows the Estonian rural food industry to participate fully in the European market

• Improved knowledge of branding, product design, promotional and marketing techniques

QUEST / OMA POOD• Production, manufacture and sale of rural food products

through: • introduction of new products; • the development of different distribution options; • farm shops, caterers etc (pubs, cafés, restaurants and rural

tourism).• Self-sustaining, integrated and regional level infrastructure for

business/financial/technical service:• rural food producers; • service providers and retailers; • technical and hygienic developments can be optimised within the

anticipated availability of capital for EU accession.• Increase availability of traditional and rural food products:

• to the local population and to tourists;• larger market share for rural food producers, processors and rural

tourism businesses.• Developing co-operative marketing of “natural” rural food

products, both in rural and in urban areas.


Project Management

Commitment

Motivation

Project Success

Lessons Learnt

• Identify strong local partner group• Need to form a committed team• Need complementary product ranges and skills

• Identify strong local management team• Ensure continuous progress• Ensure local stakeholders remain committed• Maximise use of local experts or their inclusion in training

trainers programmes

• Understand political & donor agencies needs• Ensure local market needs and expertise are understood and

accommodated

County Hubs project“Waymark”

The original concept was to establish in each County in our region a ‘County Hub’ which would link together all the organisations working to support rurally based businesses.

This would help both the support organisations themselves and even more importantly help businesses access the right support package.

The Rural Business Support Network

E S S E X

Rationale

• the multiplicity of support organisations trying to help farmers

(over 70 per County);

• businesses were confused about who could help them with what;

• a lack of co-ordination between support groups;

• poor value for public money.


E S S E X

In our experience there are 3 main stages of development of such collaborations:

Stage 1 - Meeting and Greeting - breaking down the barriers and silos to create understanding and to start to build trust between all the support services operating within a county

Stage 2 - Co-operation - to create a single point of access into this support system for businesses and for the support organisations to share information

Stage 3 - Collaboration - to rationalise service provision for businesses and to increase efficiency and effectiveness


E S S E X

The County Hub has 3 main types of organisations involved in it:

• Support organisations: Writtle College, Essex County Council, the Small Business Service, training groups etc.

• Business groups: National Farmers Union, Federation of Small Business, Chamber of Commerce etc.

• Funders: East of England Development Agency, Essex County Council, Businesslink for Essex, etc.


E S S E X

So what lessons have we learnt?• There is not one single correct solution on how to develop a local

partnership, but a few key principles have emerged:• Strong local champion / chairperson;• Boundaries are important;• Breadth of partnership;• Trust and joint working;• The more communication channels used the better;• The business support agencies gain;• Efficiency and Effectiveness;• Government recognition.

• Probably the greatest need is to have political backing for the concept to carry it through the development process

• Both ADER and Waymark are part of UK Central and Regional Government Best Practice models


E S S E X

The future of business and economic support must be to:

• co-ordinate all services as the user is not interested in which government department / agency does what;

• secure the support of businesses in helping to develop the service.

Our experience is that the County Hub approach has not only achieved these outcomes, but that it has also helped to ensure all government agencies are clearly focused on the needs of rural small businesses.


E S S E X

The Essex Experience

In Essex the county hub wa scalled Waymark Essex. Early on, all partners, including farmers, decided to broaden the hub to support all rural business and not just farms.

So what lessons have we learnt?

There is not one single correct solution on how to develop a local partnership, but a few key principles have emerged

• Probably the greatest need is to have political backing for the concept to carry it through the development process.


E S S E X

Other Key Lessons1. Strong local champion / chairperson

Developing a local partnership takes determination and an ability to get people to work together. This requires enthusiasm and political awareness to cajole partners into moving ahead.

Without a committed project champion this can not be achieved.

2. Boundaries are important In our situation Counties are the right geographic boundaries to use

as most organisations are organised on a county basis - do not try to force an artificial or non traditional boundary on the process.


E S S E X

3. Breadth of partnershipIn our case we have 150 organisations which support rural

businesses. In practice many of these are small scale and do not have the capacity to lead the process.

It is important to recognise the distinction between those who want to be kept informed and a much smaller group of key players who lead the process.

4. Trust and joint workingThe biggest barriers to joint working are a lack of trust, prior

experiences or vested interests.This will take time to erode and there is no easy answer except to

keep talking until it is resolved.


E S S E X

5. The more communication channels used the better

To reach high numbers of businesses you must recognise that each prefers a different means of communication - so use multiple channels.

Different businesses trust / listen to different sources of information, so use as many as possible. They often trust local, community or business groups more than they do the government, so use these routes.

6. The business support agencies gain

The business support agencies gain as much from the process as the businesses in terms of efficiency and effectiveness


E S S E X

7. Efficiency and EffectivenessNothing will convince the business support agencies of the process

more than helping them to deliver their agendas more efficiently and effectively.

Joint programmes and events usually attract more participants because they tap into multiple business lists and networks

8. Government recognition

Obtaining government recognition both regionally & nationally for the partnership is important both in securing funding & in obtaining partners’ commitment


E S S E X

Key principles1. Strong local champion / chairperson

2. Boundaries are important 3. Breadth of partnership4. Trust and joint working5. The more communication channels used the better6. The business support agencies gain7. Efficiency and Effectiveness8. Government recognition


E S S E X

Agricultural Development in the Eastern Region (ADER) project

The ADER project is a region wide agricultural support project started in 2000.

It is focused on helping farmers address the economic and environmental pressures they are facing.

So far over 2,400 farmers have participated and £3million of funding has been secured.

Strategy

4 key partners to make the project work:• Farming organisations;• Agricultural Colleges;• Government agencies;• and FARMERS themselves.

The current project is built upon 2 original training and business support initiatives:• Information Technology (IT) training project;• Farm diversification support project.

IT Training Project

The 12 hour introductory course covered key board skills; internet; email & an industry CD rom on pig stockmanship.

Courses now also cover the use of IT in cereals, horticulture, beef and sheep farming.

Over 1,700 people have now completed IT courses

Diversification support programme

The project has supported over 1000 farmers to:• assess diversification options;• develop a business plan & a bid for grant aid.

The support programme is delivered by:• a series of workshops & seminars;• visits to diversified farms;• one to one on farm business support.

Regionally it has been the project’s intention to work on behalf of all delivery partners to:

• form a funding agency forum• co-ordinate and submit bids for funding;

• develop & pilot new business support services;• Business Management• Sustainability• Waste & Pollution• Water Management• Supply Chain Management

• monitor uptake & delivery;

• commission the delivery locally in county hubs.

County delivery hubs have been created to ensure farmers & growers can access all the support via a single ‘farmer friendly’ point of access

These hubs bring together:• Agricultural Colleges;• Councils;• Farmer training groups;• The Small Business Service;• Commercial businesses.

So what lessons have we learnt?

We have so far worked with over 15% of the region’s farmers on over 2,000 farms – the main reasons for this success has been:

1. Farmer Engagement, we have:

• Used farmers themselves to help:• Manage the project;• Recruit other farmers to the project;

• Used national farmer organisations to help:• Promote the project;• Secure funding and give political backing.

2. Small business people need a package tailored to them – with a mix of:

• Small group seminars;

• Visits to other exemplar businesses;

• One to one support and guidance.

They also need many different specialists to support them.

Traditionally single services fail to deliver this, hence the county hubs so we can deliver training, business support and technical advice in a co-ordinated way.

3. Farmer needs change quickly – so the whole team needs:

• To be managed by people who understand the industry they are serving;

• Flexible and responsive.

4. Business people dislike traditional teaching locations

• Classrooms and formal business support locations can frighten them, so take the support out into the community - use Pubs, farms and community centres

The future in farming belongs to those who can:

• continually embrace change (today, tomorrow and every year) • & manage their businesses profitably within whichever

marketplace they chose to supply.

We hope the ADER project can continue to fulfil an important role in helping to turn this into reality for the farmers in the Eastern region.

New Support services include:• Business Management: business planning; marketing;

costing; personnel development;

• Sustainability: organics and reduced input farming; environmental management

• Waste and Pollution: understanding how to manage bio-solids and nitrate pollution

• Water Management: understanding how to increase the economic return from irrigation

• Supply Chain Management: how to get a higher % of final consumer value back to the farmgate

Lessons Learntafter 2000 farmers

• Farmer engagement• Used farmers themselves to help• Used national farmer organisations to help

• Small business people need a package tailored to them• Farmer needs change quickly• Business people dislike traditional teaching locations

Thank you

Dr Jamie MacAskill

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Rural Renaissance

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