Years of economic hardship have been capped by the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak. The Farm Crisis Network is a Christian response to these problems. John Marsh reports.
The Agricultural Christian Fellowship springs from one of the professional groups of the UCCF. The Arthur Rank Centre is based at the National Agricultural Centre at Stoneleigh and has been a Christian presence there since its inception. Together they have set up the Farm Crisis Network.
This is a network of branches which only exist where there are people to run them. The South West branch is the longest established and biggest. The people involved are Christian farming people. If not farmers themselves, they are in related industries, so they know what they are talking about. Their aim is to provide help for beleaguered farmers. They offer themselves as 'walkers with' and offer help to farming families when things get tough. The help certainly involves a sympathetic ear to talk through a problem, but it also has access to professional helpers who can give advice on technical and financial problems.
