Following the advent of the EU Mid Term Review of Common Agricultural Policy, the G8 Summit and World Trade Talks the future of farming hangs even more in the balance, particularly as subsidy payments become decoupled from food production.  Copas Farms will therefore need to continue to review diversification projects in order to subsist.

Diversification activities are only really possible with the support of neighbours.  After a period of consultation with the local Cookham community in 1992, Copas Farms developed a Farmland Management Strategy for land farmed in and around the village.  The main purpose of Farmland Management Strategies is to "develop a strategy for the management of Copas Farms in a manner which is both beneficial to the local community and compatible with maintaining a viable and sustainable farming business."

Similar strategies for land management were introduced for Copas Farms' land holdings in Medmenham in 1995, in Chesham in 2002, Amersham in 2003 and Ashley Green in 2005.  A consultation process will begin shortly to develop a Farmland Management Strategy for land farmed at Watlington.  Dialogue and feedback is invaluable and it enables us to review the Strategies on a regular basis.

Copies of the Copas Farms Farmland Management Strategies are available on request from the Estate Office  Call (01628) 529595 or
e-mail: copasfarms@copasfarms.co.uk