HC Deb 01 February 2001 vol 362 c292W
19. Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he is taking to help farm businesses seeking to diversify. [146795]

Mr. Morley

The England Rural Development Programme supports farm diversification through the £152 million Rural Enterprise Scheme (RES), Processing and Marketing Grants, the Vocational Training Scheme and tree-planting schemes. MAFF is producing a free guide on farm diversification and aims to make available free planning advice to RES applicants for farm diversification. The Rural White Paper contains a number of extra initiatives on planning to help diversification and we have consulted on providing time-limited rate relief for farmers wishing to diversify into non-farming activities.

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