About us
The Network was set up to build on the success of the Exmoor Hill Farm Project, part of the SW Uplands Livestock Initiative which also covered Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor, funded by the Rural Development Programme for England. This funding source was due to end in December 2013 so local farmers were challenged to consider whether they wanted support to continue.

The Exmoor Hill Farming Network was established in 2014, as a successor to the Exmoor Hill Farming Project (2009-2013), to improve the viability and sustainability of Exmoor farming businesses through knowledge-transfer, peer-group support, training, and co-operation to safeguard upland farming, rural employment and landscape management. Following a review of governance in 2019, the Network Steering Group established the Exmoor Hill Farming Network Community Interest Company (Company No. 12151981) which took over the running of the Network from North Devon + in February 2020.

 

Our Vision for the Network is to provide the Go-to-Hub for Exmoor’s farming community, providing information, skills, support and inspiration. We will be:


  • Economically Engaged: assisting prosperous and forward-thinking businesses;
  • Healthy and Harmonious: facilitating a proper sense of well-being and succession in the Exmoor Farming Community;
  • Farming Friendly: giving a voice for the Farming Community within landscape and countryside policy-making; and
  • Nature Nurturing: promoting sustainably managed, attractive and nature-rich farmed landscapes Change.


To learn more about us, please click here

Key Facts

Farmer led and independent

     Supporting circa: 450 farming businesses  on Exmoor and Greater Exmoor

     An email database of circa: 700 contacts

The network office is managed by Katherine Williams and assisted by Beth Heard as administrator,
both from farming backgrounds on Exmoor

During 2021, the CIC analysed the age profile of the people who participated in its training courses. As the pie chart on the right shows, two thirds of participants were under 40, which is considered important since it is this younger generation that will be taking responsibility for family business.

Objectives for 2021-2024

A: The Go-to-Hub for farmers on Exmoor

B: Income opportunities for Exmoor farmers – Environmental Land Management; Livestock marketing; and Natural capital

C: Health and Wellbeing

D: The Next Generation

E: Business support

F: Securing the Network’s future


Since its formation, the majority of the costs of running the Network have been met by grant funding from The Princes Countryside Fund and the Exmoor National Park Authority. In recent years, further project work such as the RDPE sheep scab project, Farms for the Future programme and locally-derived income (from member attendance and training fees, sponsorship and local fundraising) has become increasingly important as a source of funding.