CHAP has now signed up to the Agrespect pledge: ‘We stand against prejudice and support rural LGBTQ+ diversity, inclusion and enablement’. Other signatories include CHAP partners AHDB and Rothamsted Research as well as LEAF, DEFRA and the Soil Association.
Agrespect is working to ensure rural organisations, colleges and businesses are welcoming places for the thousands of LGBTQ+ people living and working in the countryside.
CHAP believes it is important to help Agrespect in its mission to celebrate and encourage inclusiveness in rural communities. Agriculture needs a stable and committed workforce so it makes sense to promote the countryside as a vibrant, tolerant and welcoming place for everyone irrespective of gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
Many people find it difficult to be open about their sexuality, especially in agriculture and rural businesses. By signing up to the Agrespect pledge, CHAP hopes to play a part in changing this.
But there is also a strong commercial argument for increasing diversity in the workplace: in order to cope with the increasing demands that go hand-in-hand with a growing population, the rural economy needs to attract and retain the brightest and best. Diversity leads to a better and more imaginative working and learning environment; the more perspectives we can explore, the more productive outcomes we are likely to reach. The farming community needs great new ideas now more than ever.
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