Prince of Wales shows support for Peak Farmers

Above: The Prince of Wales with farmers of the Peak District

He approached the charity Business in the Community to set up Peak Choice, a farmerowned, internet-based co-operative selling quality beef and lamb in boxes, bearing one of the Prince's watercolours as a logo. Farms are being sold off and the younger generation is increasingly finding farming a less appealing prospect, the Prince told guests at the launch of the scheme, at Grove Farm, Stanshope, near Ashbourne. Unaddressed, these conditions spell only disaster for farms and the landscape.

The Peak Choice project will give people living in and around the Peak District a tangible way of helping their local farms survive. The Prince of Wales then moved on to Onecote in Staffordshire to unveil the pioneering Peak District Dairy Wagon, which offers mobile training facilities to help farmers develop a variety of products, such as cheese, yogurts, butter, flavoured milks and ice cream. Peak Choice and the Peak District Dairy Wagon are fantastic examples of how, with the right kind of support, and the right kind of partnerships across business and the public sector, solutions can be found to some of the most difficult social and economic problems, said Julia Cleverdon, Chief Executive of Business in the Community. Both initiatives benefit consumers who are increasingly demanding high quality and locallysourced food, and the upland farmers who can take advantage of the growing market for their produce.

Finally, Prince Charles flew by helicopter to Edale to learn how vital moorland restoration work can help reduce flood risks before visiting flood-afflicted areas in nearby Sheffield. He toured the Peak District National Park pioneering, eco-friendly Moorland Centre - home of the £4.7 million Moors for the Future project, which is helping to combat flooding as well as climate change. The Prince then took part in a round-the-table discussion on moorland management with members of the Partnership, responsible for restoring some of our most rare and internationally-important landscapes.