New for this year are a series of short seminars with the programme running in both the morning and afternoon. Davina Fillingham of Stephenson & Son will cover the Countryside Stewardship schemes for 2018 including the new and simplified “Stewardship Offers for Wildlife” which aims to help more farmers into Stewardship with a guaranteed 5 years’ worth of income. Davina will also cover Rural Development Programme grants available including Improving Farm Productivity and Growth Programme for Business Development, Food Processing and Rural Tourism, which offers a 40% grant towards improving productivity in the farming and forestry sectors.