WHAT have the owner of a village shop, a manufacturer of gourmet ice cubes and a marquee hire firm all got in common?

The answer is they were all backed - and partly funded - by the YFC Acorn Project.

The scheme, to help young people on farms start up their own business enterprises, was the brainchild of the West Midland Young Farmers' Clubs president Lionel Hill.

He has been tireless in helping young farmers and it was his drive that enabled Worcestershire to obtain their HQ at Shires Farm, Hawford.

Mr Hill found a sympathetic ear in Geoff Sansome, regional manager of the Rural Development Service. He put his weight into gaining official financial backing for the Acorn Project.

"The response has been immediate and more than we could have hoped," Mr Hill said at a YFC/RDS liaison day at Shires Farm, near Worcester.

"Last October, Defra came up with £50,000, to enable successful applicants each to receive up to £2,000 on a £1 for £1 match-funding basis.

"Already the scheme has helped 15 in Herefordshire, 14 in Worcestershire, two in Shropshire and one in Warwickshire and a further £25,000 has been granted.

"It shows what modest financial help, backed up by sound advice and encouragement, can achieve.

"Germany supports youngsters to start up. At least in the west Midlands we have got something off the ground."

The Rural Development Service's Sally Powell outlined three types of diversification that the scheme can support: on farm diversification involving crops and livestock, on farm but involving non-agricultural work and off-farm diversification as a self-employed business.

Pauline Yardley introduced the Acorn Project and three successful applicants who have benefited from the grants.

Christine Hope lives with her parents at Longtown, Herefordshire, on a small farm, which is no longer viable.

"The village was losing its post office and shop," she said.

"I set up a shop in January 2002, and stocked it with food. It proved popular and I was able to introduce a much wider choice. When more and more people came some neighbours objected. So we moved to a site further from them.

"My target for April 2004 was to have the village store and post office up and running. We managed it with two temporary buildings and the post office unit used at showgrounds providing the required security.

"The business has taken off. My mother is postmistress and my father helps us part-time. We also employ six part-time helpers and two postmen, so this all helps local employment. Also, in my shop, we promote locally grown produce."

Ian Few, of Ditchford Bank Farm, Hanbury, near Droitwich, is a partner with his elder brother John on a dairy farm with a large herd.

"With depressed prices for milk and wheat, I could see the need for another business," he explained. "Back in 1999 I bought a marquee.

"Having had to hire one for YFC events, I was aware of prices and hire charges.

"In 2001 I was talked into helping at a wedding and bought linings to do the job properly. Demand grew and we were catering for two or three weddings a week in the summer. There was work for two or three full-time members of staff.

"I could see a gap in the market and went to Defra for a RES grant for more equipment for a budgeted expansion.

"Now, we employ 12 staff in the summer. The enterprise is still within the GO Few & Son farm business.

"I am indebted to the grant aid and to Mark Hall of Rural Hub, who helped me fill in the application forms."

Philip Mann, of Heath Farm, near Craven Arms, Shropshire, a 600-ace, mainly arable, farm, now rearing a million broilers a year for Sun Valley, was looking for another business, with two families for the farm to support.

"We have a source of very high quality spring water and it was my ambition to sell bottled spring water," he explained.

"We joined the Bottle Water Cooling Association and sales took off in the brilliant summer of 2003.

"Ice cubes were in demand and we saw the scope for gourmet ice cubes of pure spring water, when commonly ice cubes on the bar came from tap water.

"A Defra grant of £40,000 enabled us to set up an Italian ice cube plant. McCartneys helped us with a business plan. Our cubes went on general sale last autumn. We now employ eight to 10 full-time."

Rural businesses, large and small, can get going with the grants.

The YFC Acorn Project can help start a young, farm-based business.

This might, for instance, enable a young farmer to acquire tools for hedge-laying as care of the environment assumes greater priority.