THE CHAPLAIN

The Chaplain for Agriculture and Rural Life (usually shortened to "Agricultural Chaplain") acts as a rural specialist within the diocese with three specific areas of concern:
	To provide care and support to the farming and food industries, To work, on behalf of the Church, with a wide range of organisations and issues that impact on life within rural communities, To resource the Church and assist it in its mission and witness. Left; The Rev'd Nick Read, OBE, The Chaplain for Agriculture and Rural Life

In order to achieve these tasks the chaplain works with a number of organisations and bodies in the diocese. Shropshire and Herefordshire both have well-established rural stress support networks that provide emotional support and practical care for the farming and rural communities. The chaplain is part of their management structure and also operates directly to assist in cases of distress. He is the Chairman of the Rural Stress in Powys project and a trustee of the Institute of Rural Health at Gregynog, forming links within the Welsh part of the diocese. The diocese has also been active in founding and managing OPUS, a charity established to assist those suffering from exposure to pesticides, particularly Organo-phosphates, and which operates across the Marches and mid-Wales. Together with colleagues from Worcester and Gloucester Dioceses he is part of the permanent chaplaincy at the Three Counties Countryside Show and also assists at local agricultural shows and events.

The church is active in all communities and the chaplain's role is to work with strategic organisations, complementing the more local, parish-based, initiatives. These organisations include the Community Councils, Local Development Agencies, Local Authorities and various Strategic Local Partnerships, all of whom have a significant impact on rural life and well-being. Increasingly the regional agenda requires a church input, and the chaplain works alongside the Government Office of the West Midlands (GOWM), the Countryside Agency, the Regional Development Agency (Advantage West Midlands) and a growing number of regional forums including the West Midlands Regional Rural Affairs Forum. The role of the latter is to ensure that rural issues are understood and taken seriously by regional and national agencies. There is frequent contact with policy-makers at all levels.

To enable the church to respond effectively the chaplain provides monthly briefings on the state of agriculture, assists with training for both clergy and lay ministers (including training events at agricultural shows) and acts as a "rural adviser" to the West Midlands Churches' Forum. Parishes engaging in specific initiatives with the farming community draw on his expertise and networks. The diocese has also been active in promoting a series of conferences to draw attention to rural issues and promote farming enterprises locally. Nationally, the chaplain is an Executive Committee member of the Agricultural Chaplains Association and works closely with the Arthur Rank Centre at the National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh.