At the leading edge with Duchy College

Did you know that Duchy College hosts a team of specialists working on challenges and opportunity facing our sectors?

The Rural Business School (RBS) is a specialist unit, spanning Duchy and Bicton Colleges, that undertakes research, consultancy and knowledge exchange activities. It has a pedigree of projects working with industry, academia, communities and government.  Projects focusing on making our industry more efficient and productive, resilient and sustainable, and better able to protect and enhance the environment and those that farm it.

RBS projects have been numerous and varied, most notably, they currently include:

• The Challenge of Rural Leadership, one of the most prestigious short leadership courses for our sectors, run on behalf of the Worshipful Company of Farmers over two weeks in January at Dartington Hall. This is an intensive, challenging and inspirational course informed by experts and leaders, helping delegates form enduring peer groups and discover leadership at a time when it is needed most! 
• The Farm Net Zero project works with the farming community in East Cornwall to show the contribution that agriculture can make to achieving Net Zero; so we can demonstrably be a part of the solution to climate change, rather than viewed as the problem. Our delivery partners include the Farm Carbon Toolkit, Westcountry Rivers Trust, Innovative Farmers, Innovation for Agriculture and Just Farmers.
• Future Farm is a unique dairy systems research platform, created by the Agri-tech Cornwall Project with support from the European Regional Development Fund, UK Government and the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL). Through this facility we help the dairy sector test and trial innovative solutions, especially those involving resource efficiency for a greener hoof-print!
• Ambitious Natural Capital plans being formulated with the Duchy of Cornwall Estate and local stakeholders to have 30% of the campus farm protecting nature by 2030 (30 by 30). For the environment crisis, just as with climate change, farming is often viewed as a culprit. This project will set out to prove that farming can be at the heart of a healthy landscape; supporting healthy ecosystems, crops and livestock, and providing us with healthy nutritious food, and a countryside to enjoy.

For more information about these and other projects see www.duchy.ac.uk/rbs 

It is unusual for a College to operate at this level, however, the logic is simple: work with the sectors on complex and wicked challenges to develop innovative solutions and identify new opportunities, and put that knowledge into practice.