NEWS RELEASE – Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board
1 November 2012
NEW £1M ANIMAL WELFARE GRANT BOOSTS INDUSTRY
SKILLS FOCUS
Just over £1m of new money is to be invested across the country in enhanced skills training on
animal health and welfare, thanks to a successful funding bid under Defra’s Rural Development
Programme for England (RDPE).
The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has secured a £315,000 boost to its
drive to develop skills in general animal health and welfare, with an additional £550,000 to further
develop training and awareness in the fight to control endemic disease, with a special focus on
Bovine Diarrhoea (BVD) and Scab.
This additional investment (supplemented by industry match funding) was won under the new
Skills Framework funding of the RDPE, which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union.
As project leader, AHDB will work with a contract team to train advisers, vets, trading standards
officers, livestock auctioneers, feed and pharmaceutical representatives, as well as livestock
farmers. The target is to upskill 2,000 or more in animal health and welfare for farm livestock and
at least 8,000 on BVD and Scab in the cattle and sheep industries.
Both programmes will begin this month and run until March 2014.
Experienced technical experts from AHDB’s livestock divisions – covering cattle and sheep, dairy
herds and pigs – will team up with animal specialists at ADAS and XLVets to deliver the training
events. Training on other areas, in particular poultry, deer and rabbits, will be outsourced to
relevant industry specialists.
“This award is a real boost for all our livestock sectors because it will bring yet more high value,
cost-effective training to a broad range of people working in our industry, further improving animal
health and welfare and, consequently, helping to make a large proportion of our agri-businesses
more competitive,” said AHDB External Skills Project Manager Tess Howe.
“AHDB has put together an added-value animal health and welfare programme that builds on our
commitment to deliver the type of training those working in the industry say they most need – this
extra funding is vital because it will help agri-businesses move further forward in caring for their
livestock and looking after the bottom-line.”
AHDB Chief Executive Tom Taylor welcomed the grant and its boost to industry competitiveness
and sustainability: “As with all industries, there is a constant need in agriculture to develop new skills
to help keep pace with change and innovation. This injection of new money will help us train more
people more quickly than would otherwise have been possible.”

ENDS
A photo is available of AHDB Chairman John Godfrey (right) with farming minister
David Heath during the minister’s visit to Stoneleigh Park, last month, to discuss
AHDB’s cross-sector skills strategy.
Notes to editors
1. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) is an evidence-based levy
board with a pivotal role to make the industry sectors it supports more competitive and
sustainable. It undertakes research and development (R&D) and farm-level knowledge
transfer (KT) and knowledge exchange (KE) activity. It also provides essential market
information to improve supply chain transparency, delivers marketing promotion activities
to help stimulate demand and also works to maintain and develop export markets.
AHDB is funded by the agriculture and horticulture industries through statutory levies.
It works to support the sectors of meat and livestock (cattle, sheep and pigs) in England;
horticulture, milk and potatoes in Great Britain; cereals and oilseeds in the UK - in all, it
represents about 75% of total UK agricultural output. The responsibility for setting strategic
priorities and recommending levy rates is delegated to the advisory boards (comprised of
levy payers and industry representatives) of its six sector divisions – BPEX, EBLEX,
DairyCo, HGCA, HDC and Potato Council.
2. AHDB’s involvement in similar livestock training projects includes its Pig Health
Improvement Project, DairyCo’s Mastitis Control Plan and Healthy Feet programme and
the EBLEX Better Returns project.
3. There are six key areas (lots) to the new Skills Framework funding under Defra’s Rural
Development Programme for England (RDPE), backed by the European Union:
-
Business management, leadership and ICT skills for agriculture, horticulture and
forestry
Knowledge transfer, innovation and technical skills for agriculture, horticulture and
forestry
Agricultural animal health and welfare
Marketing and supply chain efficiency for agriculture, horticulture and forestry
Resource use efficiency in agriculture, horticulture and forestry
Traditional rural skills and rural tourism.
4. This project is supported by the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) for
which Defra is the Managing Authority, part-funded (or financed) by the European
Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas.
Twitter: @AHDB01
Media enquiries contact Jeremy Waterfield on 0247 6478890 or 0780 1418952 or
jeremy.waterfield@ahdb.org.uk