The Prince’s Countryside Fund has awarded a grant to the Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators (IAgSa) to support their “Minding Your Business” workshops. The Fund has given out more than £300,000 of grants in its most recent round of funding.

The funding will support the development of a small team of trainers who will work across England, Wales, and Scotland delivering the “Minding Your Business” training workshops, targeted at family farming businesses located in the more remote rural areas and those that are often termed as the “hard to reach”.

Cathy Meredith from IAgSa said: “The Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators (IAgSA) is delighted to have been awarded grant funding by the Prince's Countryside Fund to support the “Minding Your Business” workshops. These will give members of farming families the opportunity to update their skills and knowledge base to ensure a better understanding of farm book-keeping procedures and review current systems. This is in preparation and readiness for the future HMRC requirements for Making VAT Digital in April 2019.”

Claire Saunders, Director of The Prince’s Countryside Fund said: “We are thrilled to be able to support IAgSa with this worthwhile project, and we are grateful to all of supporters and corporate partners for their generous donations which allow us to continue with our vital work.

“The Prince’s Countryside Fund is committed to supporting farming families create profitable, sustainable businesses, and the wonderful work that IAgSa does is vital in ensuring this is possible, and acting as trusted experts for farmers on financial matters.”

To find out more about financial support from The Prince’s Countryside Fund, visit www.princescountrysidefund.org.uk/grants. The Fund is next open for grant applications in January 2019.