In order to meet demand for business training from aspiring dairy farmers the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) is to relaunch Entrepreneurs in Dairying.

The RABDF will also be introducing an additional fourth college to the offer following its inaugural programme held last year.

The initiative, which offers specialist tuition and coaching for those who wish to progress their careers and develop their own farming business, will start in September the RABDF says.

The programme returns to Cannington, Somerset; Gelli Aur, Carmarthenshire and Newton Rigg, Cumbria.

The new centre for 2015 is Reaseheath College, Cheshire and each centre will offer 15 places, it says.

The RABDF says that the programme features five weekly sessions together with four full days delivered by industry specialists accompanied by a local farming business.

It is organised by RABDF in collaboration with AHDB Dairy, National Farmers Union (NFU) and The Andersons Centre

Areas covered will primarily focus on starting your own business in dairy farming and better business and financial management, it says.

RABDF policy director, Tim Brigstocke said after training 35 students last year, the RABDF is delighted that demand is running so high for this type of business training that the RABDF is in a position to relaunch Entrepreneurs in Dairying with an extended reach for up to 60 aspiring dairy farmers.

“We are also pleased to continue working with three complementary organisations: AHDB Dairy offering facilitation by the extension team and Dairy Pro membership, the NFU, and The Andersons Centre.

“Once again, the Entrepreneurs in Dairying programme is designed to fill the apparent void of training amongst people already working on farms, for example those five years out of college, herd managers and farmers’ sons and daughters without a clear future on the family unit.

“This year we are responding to demand with an additional two days focused purely on finance management,” he said.