December already? The Hub team are recovering from the hustle and bustle of the RBA Day – it was great to see many of you there. Rhia’s final task for this years event is to gather feedback on what you liked and anything you’d like to see us do differently in future. It helps us to ensure the event remains relevant and fir for purpose so please do follow the link below, thoughts welcomed on anything from venue layout, range of standholders, presentation topics and even the parking attendant! Thanks again goes to all the sponsors and standholders, without whom this important annual event would not be possible.

At the end of the month Kate and Dan travelled to Aberdeen for the Nuffield Farming Scholarships annual conference. Dan concluded his scholarship with his presentation, sharing his learning and recommendations for the industry to empower the next generation of farmers – you can watch his 12 minute video here. We’re absolutely delighted to share that Kate was awarded the prestigious Nuffield Farming Bullock Award for Innovation. This award recognises Nuffield Scholars who have made most effective use of the scholarship in the 10 years following their study. Kate’s topic in 2015 focused on the most effective ways to engage farmers, so I’m sure you’ll agree it is on the verge of exhaustion after the last ten years! Kate has credited the award to the incredible farming community here in Herefordshire, and to everyone who continues to help the Rural Hub go from strength to strength.

Herefordshire is a hot bed of Nuffield scholars and if you are aged between 25 and 45 years old and are tempted to apply, next years application window opens in January – find out all you need to know here.
There is also an incredible Next-Gen scholarship for those under 25 with an interest in dairy or regenerative agriculture – applications for this close on the 31^st January – find our all you need to know here.

Upcoming Events

WAFM - Christmas Light Up Tractor Run & Social Event

Sat 6th December 

Pre Register for Tractor Run on the link below

Social Event 6pm to 8:30pm 

Sink Green Farm B&B, HR2 6LE

Booking is essential

Click here to book 

Herefordshire Grassland Society: Winter Meeting

Farming for Water Quality: Managing & Reducing Pollution with Kate Speke-Adams & Dan Smith, Herefordshire Rural Hub

Tues 9th December 

6:30pm to 10pm

Grange Court, Leominster HR6 8NL

All welcome, more info click here

Farm Herefordshire Partnership: Practical Workshop - Preparing for a Drier Future

Wed 10th December 

9:30am to 2pm

Ditton Farms, St Owens Cross, Hereford HR2 8LL

To include farm reservoir tour at Ditton Farms, followed by talks & lunch at The Red Lion, Peterstow.

More information click here.

To book please email here.

ADAS Rosemaund Farming Association - Winter Meeting

Thurs 11th December 

Time TBC

Rosemaund, Herefordshire 

Want access to independent, technical advice to improve your crop & farm productivity? join the meeting to see if it is right for you.

More information click here.

FREE 1-Day Woodland Management Course - Learn the benefits for your farm

Thurs 11th December  

9:30am to 4:30pm

Llanishen Village Hall, Llanishen NP16 6QE

Lunch & Refreshements provided

More information click here.

To book please email here.

WAFM - One Foot in the Grain Over 50's Farmers Social

Friday 19th December  

11:45am to 2:45pm  

Weobley Village Hall, HR4 8SN  

More information click here

Herefordshire Inheritance Tax & Business Planning Advice & Support Afternoon 

Thurs 8th Jan 2026 

1pm to 4pm  

The Shell Store, Hereford HR2 6SR 

Join the NFU, for perhaps one of the last opportunities to get advice and support for your farm businesses on IHT changes ahead of April 2026.

Click here for more info & to book

Hub Go-To-Businesses

With the phasing out of the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and increasing production costs in farming, diversification projects could prove to be a popular additional income stream for farmers and landowners...

Rural Business Advice Day 2025

Thank You for Joining us at Rural Business Advice Day – Planning Ahead for 2025

On 5 November 2025, just under 200 farmers and rural business owners joined us for the 15th annual Rural Business Advice (RBA) Day.  For the second year running, the event took place at Lyde Arundel, a diversified farm business, in their beautifully converted event space.

Attendees had the opportunity to connect with staff from nearly 40 standholders, offering a wide range of expertise, and to attend presentations designed to support and inspire rural enterprises.

As we begin planning for RBA Day 2026, we’d love your input. Please share your feedback, suggestions for topics, or ideas via the survey link below:

If you attended RBA day, please complete our short survey.  Thank you.

Regulation & Compliance

The UK continues to see new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1), with several outbreaks confirmed in recent weeks. In response, a nationwide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone remains in force across England, including mandatory housing measures for many keepers. Anyone with more than 50 birds—or those who sell or give away eggs or meat—must now keep their birds indoors and maintain strict biosecurity.

Where cases are identified, 3 km protection zones and 10 km surveillance zones are established, and affected flocks are culled to prevent further spread. The overall risk to poultry is still assessed as very high, particularly for premises with weaker biosecurity.

All keepers are urged to stay alert, follow hygiene and disinfection guidance, monitor flock health closely, and report any signs of illness or unexplained deaths. Avoiding contact with dead wild birds and keeping up to date with local control measures remain essential through the winter period.

For up to date information and guidance visit the goverment's bird flu (avian influenza) page.

Bluetongue Update

Defra has confirmed 228 cases of bluetongue across Great Britain since July 2025.

• England: 205 cases of BTV-3, 1 cases of BTV-8, and 7 case's involving both BTV-3 and BTV-8

• Wales: 15 cases of BTV-3

With cooler temperatures in recent weeks, experts now consider the risk of onward spread by midges in the South East, East Anglia, South West, and North East to be low.
However, there remains a risk of animals becoming infected through already infected midges or infected germinal products.

The risk of incursion of bluetongue virus (including serotypes not currently circulating in England) from all routes remains at medium (occurs regularly) although the risk of airborne incursion is now low (event is rare but does occur).

Farmers and livestock keepers are urged to stay vigilant, watch for symptoms, maintain strong biosecurity, and follow testing and movement rules.

⚠️ Bluetongue is a Notifiable Disease
Any suspected cases—including abortions or birth defects potentially linked to bluetongue—must be reported immediately to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).

For full details on movement restrictions, testing requirements, and control measures, visit the government’s bluetongue guidance page.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax

Make sure you tare prepared; from 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with turnover more than £50,000 must use MTD (Making Tax Digital) for Income Tax.

To help you prepare for the change, HMRC have recorded and live webinars available. To view please click the following link HMRC are hosting a series of webinars.

You can also read more about MTD for Income Tax and how to prepare on the Making Tax Digital website

One of the Hub’s Go-To Businesses, The Hutchinson Partnership, has published an insightful blog post about Making Tax Digital -  click here to read.

Training & Development

Preparing for a Drier Future:
Practical advice for future abstraction and storage
to improve on-farm water resilience

Wednesday 10th December 2025
9:30am – 2:00pm
By kind permission of Mark Green, Ditton Farms

Join Farm Herefordshire partnership for a practical workshop featuring a farm reservoir tour at Ditton Farms, followed by expert talks and lunch at The Red Lion, Peterstow.

Programme includes:

• Winter-fill reservoirs tour & discussion with Mark Green, Ray Williams and Peter Gwynne

• Building water resilience within farming businesses with Sarah Faulkner

• Permits and planning with speakers from the Environment Agency and Herefordshire Council

Location:
Meet at Ditton Farms, St Owens Cross, Hereford HR2 8LL
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Additional Information:

• 3 BASIS CPD Professional Points available

• Tea & coffee on arrival, plus lunch provided

Booking is essential.
Please email: bookings@herefordshireruralhub.co.uk

Apprenticeships, Training &
Short Courses available

• Animal care & welfare
• Farm Worker
• Forestry & arboriculture
• Welding
• Farriery

• Felling & processing trees
• Safe use of pesticides
• Tractor Driving
• Welding, metal work & fabrication
• Blacksmithing
• Chainsaw maintenance

The Jack Hughes Fund supports the cost of training for members of Herefordshire’s farming community.

Funding & Schemes

Advice & Support

Herefordshire's Nutrient
Balance Programme

Agriculture is currently identified as the greatest source of nutrient loss in the Wye catchment. However, the modelling behind this relies on outdated data and several assumptions. To build a more accurate picture of our true nutrient load, we are encouraging all farmers to complete a FarmGate Nutrient Balance — free of charge — with a local Farm Herefordshire partnership adviser.

All individual nutrient balances are confidential, with results aggregated into a locally owned dataset.

Why take part?

• Contribute to a county-scale, industry-led approach to assessing on-farm nutrient load

• Improve efficiency by ensuring nutrient imports are balanced with exports

• Gain valuable insight into your farm’s nutrient position

Book your free visit today: Click here

Farming with Nature 

Herefordshire Wildlife Trust supports customers with habitat and conservation advice including:

• Wildlife & Habitat Surveying
• Habitat Management Plans
• Biodiversity Net Gain

Find out more and get in touch via www.herefordshirewt.org/farmingwithnature

Species-Rich Grassland: Advisory Services from Herefordshire Meadows

• Advice & guidance regarding management or restoration of species-rich grassland.
• Grassland assessment for suitability of SFI options for livestock, soil health, flood and drought resilience and biodiversity.
• Grassland surveys e.g. assessing suitability for GRH6 option.
• Guidance regarding permanent grassland, floodplain and cultivated land.

Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) Support

CSF have four advisers working across Herefordshire: Alice Probert and Rob Edwards cover the Arrow, Lugg, and Frome catchments, Nick Hinchliffe covers the Wye, and Amy Stephens handles the Leadon.

CSF offers free, confidential and impartial advice. The team of local advisers can help you with: Nutrient, slurry and manure management, Soil health, Pesticide handling, Natural flood management , Reducing ammonia emissions,  Sustainable water use, Guidance on farming schemes and regulations,

Even though DEFRA capital grants are currently closed, CSF can still offer advice visits which can include discussions and potential approvals for any future capital grants windows.  If you are interested in applying for future grants we would strongly recommend getting in touch with CSF as soon as possible to ensure you have the right supporting documents lined up ready to apply in good time before the next window opens.

Booking a CSF Visit
To request support, email a completed Catchment Sensitive Farming Advice Request form  to  csf.severn@naturalengland.org.uk.

Herefordshire Natural Flood Management (NFM) Project:
Advice & grants available

• Bodenham Brooks (above Bodenham)
• Brimfield Brook (above Brimfield and Orleton)
• Cheaton, Cogwell and Ridgemoor Brook system (above Leominster and Frome)
• Dulas Brook (above Ewas Harold)
• Pentaloe Brook (above Mordiford)
• Tedstone Brook (above Bromyard)
• Red, Norton and Twyford Brook system (above Rotherwas, Hereford).

Consultations

Hedgerow Survey – Herefordshire Farmers Needed

Samantha Bishop, a farmer and PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London, is carrying out a hedgerow survey as part of her research. She is inviting Herefordshire farmers to spare a few minutes to complete a short questionnaire and support her study.

Click here to take part in the survey.

To advertise events, services, training and job opportunities with us click here. 

Deadline for print copy 25th of each month.

Meet the Team

Kate Speke-Adams -
Hub Managing Director

For details about our projects & opportunities to work with us click here.

Sarah Starkey -
Hub Farm Resilience Project Manager

For info about any of our resilience projects click here.

Sue Powell -
Hub Finance Officer

For queries about finance & invoicing 
click here.

Jennie Hermolle -
Hub Wyescapes Engagement & Communications Manager

For information about our Wyescapes Landscape Recovery project click here 

We're proud to be part of the
Royal Countryside Fund's
Farm Support Group Initiative