THE driving force promoting the Government's sustainable farming and food strategy saw diversification in action by a group of farmers at Leominster on Tuesday.

Sir Don Curry's Implementation Group was at 7Y Rural Services at Wharton Court to look at a rural partnership.

Group member Jeremy Pope, who is also chair of the English Farming and Food Partnership, said farmers and growers were being encouraged to invest in commercial collaborative initiatives.

He saw sustainability in action during the visit to 7Y which is a collaborative group of around 500 members from the farming and rural business community in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

7Y acts as a machinery ring, allowing members to reduce machinery ownership costs. The co-operative is also operating a new venture called Bioganix, designed to accelerate the composting of organic waste material.

Mr Pope said the Implementation Group was looking at ways to take the farming and food industry forward in the face of CAP.

"We are there to try and facilitate people who wish to work collectively. We have seen some excellent examples of this in operation. Of course, we do not want to suppress individual efforts."

Mr Pope said that at present the nine-member group had limited funds and was hoping more would become available.

For the present, the group wanted to obtain a clear view of initiatives, find out what was achieving and what was not. It wanted to know how best it could advise and help.

7Y's managing director Julian Morgan, said the group saw how farmers diversified by coming together effectively.

To coincide with the visit, the Leominster co-operative also held its annual meeting and an open day.