The Mayor of York and North Yorkshire has appointed a new chair
to represent the region's farming community in a bid to improve
their finances.
Jan Thornton, who was awarded an MBE for her services to rural
communities, will lead Grow Yorkshire after it was recently
re-established as York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority's
expert advisory panel.
She joined Grow Yorkshire the year after it was established in
2019 and since then it has funded more than 100 environmental
audits and assessments on farms, developed special interest
groups and training programmes.
Now, Jan Thornton MBE will steer the group at a time when farmers
are battling with market volatility, climate change impacts and
policy changes.
This combination of impacts has resulted in more than half of the
region's 7,000 farms failing to reach sustainable levels of
profits.
These findings were revealed in a report commissioned by , Mayor of York and North
Yorkshire, which also called for more interventions to support
farmers.
, the Mayor of York and North
Yorkshire, said:
"Our farmers are the backbone of our region, but with more than
half of farms currently making unsustainable profits, we cannot
afford to stand still.
“Giving Grow Yorkshire a strengthened role and appointing a chair
with a strong track record, we are putting power in the hands of
those who know farming and our rural communities best.
“Jan has been a great advocate for farming, the food sector, and
rural communities across Yorkshire, her contribution to Grow
Yorkshire has been invaluable, and I'm really pleased that she is
supporting us on this journey.”
The new Grow Yorkshire will focus on implementing national
recommendations to ensure that more farms make a sustainable
profit, backing new farming methods to reduce their impact on the
environment and removing barriers to training and support the
wellbeing of farmers.
Jan Thornton MBE, chair of Grow Yorkshire, said:
“I am delighted to have been appointed by Mayor as the new chair of Grow
Yorkshire.
“This is an exciting opportunity to bring together lots of
stakeholders who are really embedded in farming.
“By working together, we can develop the best policies and
actions to support farmers and the wider rural community.”
Partners who work with Grow Yorkshire include regional and
national organisations that represent farming including the
Yorkshire Agricultural Society, the National Farmers' Union (NFU)
and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).
