Tir Gofal seen benefiting land-based contractors

Rural Europe, Wednesday June 7 2006

The Welsh agri-environment scheme Tir Gofal is an important source of business for land-based contractors in Wales and makes an important contribution to rural employment opportunities and rural development, according to a new socio-economic evaluation report.

The survey, carried out by Agra CEAS Consulting, showed that a large number of relatively small businesses, independent of existing farm businesses, are responding positively to the opportunities offered by Tir Gofal through the provision of farm labour.

A smaller number of larger, well-established contractors meanwhile are supplying both labour services and materials.

For the former category, Tir Gofal was cited as an important source of business, supplying on average around one-quarter of both turnover and business income.

Earlier findings corroborated

A previous socio-economic evaluation of the on-farm impacts of Tir Gofal, conducted in 2004 by Agra CEAS Consulting, had estimated that the scheme had generated additional work for land-based contractors equivalent to 170 new full-time jobs.

This new study corroborates this by revealing 35 new jobs among the 20% of contractors surveyed (equivalent to 175 new jobs when scaled-up).

Business confidence about the likelihood of continued growth was also found to be high, as was business appreciation of the likely role of Tir Gofal in stimulating growth.

When questioned about the importance of Tir Gofal to their business, a relatively large majority of businesses considered that the scheme will be “essential” or “important” to their business in the future, while around half considered that Tir Gofal would play a “large role” in driving business growth or maintaining business stability in the future.

Local procurement

The findings also suggest that Tir Gofal enhances its contribution to rural development via the local procurement of materials that it stimulates.

In particular, the relatively large amount of materials sourced within 10 miles of contractors is positive, particularly as this helps to retain employment and income generated by the scheme within the local area.

Dr Simon Bilsborough, senior economist at the Countryside Council for Wales who was responsible for commissioning the research, welcomed the findings by saying that the report "will be useful in ensuring continued business support for the sector as well making the case for better integration between the Wales Rural Development Programme and mainstream Structural Fund programmes”.

Rural economic regeneration

Dr. Bilsborough noted that the distribution of land-based contractors is skewed toward the north and west of Wales - areas which predominantly are rural and in some cases isolated from the main centres of economic activity.

“Through the stimulation of new, small-scale businesses, and business growth of existing land-based contractors, with the additional employment opportunities that this creates, it is clear that Tir Gofal has demonstrated its role in contributing to rural economic regeneration”.

In policy terms, the report findings suggest a close synergy between measures promoted under the Wales Rural Development Plan and broader economic objectives such as the EU's Lisbon Strategy for growth and employment.

The study urges formal recognition of Tir Gofal's socio-economic impact in the forthcoming 2007-13 Rural Development Plan and Structural Fund programmes in Wales, to ensure that business opportunities available to small-scale land-based contractors in rural Wales are optimised.

The study was carried out by Agra CEAS Consulting for the Countryside Council for Wales and its partners Fforwm Tirlun (Wales Landscape Industry Forum) and the then Welsh Development Agency (which has since merged with the Welsh Assembly Government).

For more information please contact Dr. Dylan Bradley or Matthew Morris in the Wye office.

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