The second year of the highly successful HILFN 'Local Food Apprenticeship' is now well underway with 13 new apprentices keenly learning about all aspects of running a horticultural business.  With modules on everything from marketing to crop propagation; seeds to tractor driving, the students get their knowledge from established farmers, food producers and expert business people.

We wish them all the very best during their year of learning and look forward to following their progress throughout the course and beyond.

Find out more about the LFA by clicking on www.hilocalfood.net/apprenticeship

We're disappointed to announce that our successful Gates Open project which was piloted in 2007 will not be going ahead this year after all.  This is due to a change in policy and timescales from our two key funders which means that we wouldn't have the funding green light until too late to put the events in place.

Although this is regrettable, the project is by no means 'dead' and we fully intend to run Gates Open again in 2009 and beyond.

For the full story of Gates Open 2007, see the Gates Open dedicated page.