Prince launches new charity to support countryside

The Prince of Wales launched an ambitious fund that seeks to support and safeguard rural communities and family farms, and educate the public about the importance of agriculture.

Charles has been a passionate advocate of country life and its people for decades and has attracted a host of high street retailers and producers to support his project.

Waitrose, McDonald's, Morrisons and Asda are some of the companies that have donated more than 1m in total to his Prince's Countryside Fund, which distributed the money to good causes helping the farming industry and communities.

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The companies will carry the Fund's logo on some of their products and it is hoped the public will also give money to the scheme.

Speaking at the initiative's launch at St James' Palace in London Charles told the invited guests, who included beneficiaries of the new project and representatives of the supporting businesses, that the countryside was a "precious national asset that should be treasured".

He added: "The Fund, which I am so pleased to say already stands at just over 1m, will distribute the money to grassroots projects that are helping to create a vibrant sustainable future for rural Britain.

"We have three objectives – first of all to improve the sustainability of British farming and rural communities, targeting the areas of greatest need – and to begin with that means our upland areas; secondly, to reconnect consumers with countryside issues; and, thirdly, to support farming crisis charities in times of need."

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Charles highlighted some of the problems faced by the farming industry and told the audience that the number of farmers and farm workers had fallen by 26 per cent during the past 20 years and that farmers were growing old, average age 58, and those retiring needed to be replaced in large numbers.

The royal said that upland farmers made a loss on average of 3,000 last year.

He said: "This extraordinary breed of farmer manages to produce food – and very delicious food indeed– in some of the harshest conditions; the weather is extreme, the soil is poor and the topography is some of the most challenging."

The royal also talked about wider issues and the problem of "food security" saying: "With the threat from climate change and the risk of reliance on international transportation we should be keeping as much land in food production as possible – so long as it is done in an environmentally sustainable way and with biodiversity at the core of it."