Duchy College Rural Business School

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The Duchy College Rural Business School [1] was founded in 2006. It is part of the Cornwall College Group, [2] and its main purpose is to provide a range of services that meet the needs of rural communities, including training opportunities, business support, and an ongoing research program. Richard Soffe [3] [4] [5] is director of the Rural Business School.

Contents

Facilities

The Rural Business School is located on two sites: Stoke Climsland in the east of the county of Cornwall and also at Rosewarne in the west. It has a research outpost at Exeter University [6] in Devon and an office in the National Farmers' Union [7] building in Exeter.

Rural Business Research

Rural Business Research [8] (RBR) is a team of British researchers working in the areas of farming, the environment, and rural business. It is a consortium of academic units delivering projects for the government, levy-funded research bodies, research councils, and commercial clients. It runs the Farm Business Survey, [9] which it carries out for Defra. [10]

Postgraduate Study

Postgraduate study [11] is offered through the Rural Business School at Duchy College. The subject matter is based within land-based and rural industry sectors and is offered in a versatile format to accommodate the requirements of students.

Rural Development Programme for England projects

The Rural Business School runs a number of RDPE [12] funded projects. These include:

The Skills Programme

The Skills Programme [13] offers support funding for training. Training on the Skills Programme is delivered by a partnership led by the Rural Business School. The other partners are the Royal Agricultural University [14] and Lantra. [15]

Healthy Livestock

The Healthy Livestock Project [16] focuses on controlling the incidence of various conditions in livestock.

The Southwest Layers and Game Bird Initiative

The Southwest Layers and Game Bird Initiative [17] offers funding for training events, conferences and activities designed to improve flock health. It is driven by the Rural Business School who are running a three-year project funded through the Southwest Healthy Livestock Initiative (SWHLI). [18] This project has been formulated with the West Country Layers Association. [19]

SWHLI Knowledge Exchange Project

The Rural Business School delivers the South West Healthy Livestock Initiative (SWHLI) Knowledge Exchange project in partnership with the University of Bristol Veterinary School. [19] This initiative recognises the economic and cultural significance of livestock rearing to the region. The project provides knowledge support to SWHLI sector projects at a regional level and communicates the resulting information on the health and welfare of the region’s livestock population to the wider farming community.

South West Agricultural Resource Management

The main aim of South West Agricultural Resource Management [20] (SWARM) is to share information on resource management within the farming community in the South West Region of England. SWARM works with funding agencies, farming groups and other stakeholders to ensure up to date knowledge on all aspects of farm resource management is available to the local farming community.

The Challenge of Rural Leadership Course

The Challenge of Rural Leadership Course, a two week residential course run by the Rural Business School of Duchy College in Cornwall, [21] is held at Dartington Hall [22] in Devon each year.

See also

Related Research Articles

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Cornwall is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised by Cornish and Celtic political groups as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, Devon to the east, and the English Channel to the south. The largest urban area in the county is a conurbation that includes the former mining towns of Redruth and Camborne, and the county town is the city of Truro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devon</span> County of England

Devon is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west. The city of Plymouth is the largest settlement, and the city of Exeter is the county town.

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Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of 1,200 acres (4.9 km2) dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as "one of the most spectacular surviving domestic buildings of late Medieval England", along with Haddon Hall and Wingfield Manor. The medieval buildings are grouped around a huge courtyard; the largest built for a private residence before the 16th Century, and the Great Hall itself is the finest of its date in England. The west range of the courtyard is regarded nationally as one of the most notable examples of a range of medieval lodgings. The medieval buildings were restored from 1926 to 1938.

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References

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