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2020-12-31-accounts

& F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S

2020

CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 269442 COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 1204694

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020
#GoNative
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Contents

Our goals 4 A message from our Chairman 5 A message from our Chief Executive Officer 6 A message from our Director of Finance 7

8 Promoting 18 Securing 22 Delivering 30 Recognition

Financial Review 33 Governance 35 Independent Auditors Report 37 Statement of Financial Activities 39 B alance sheet 40 41 Statement of cash flows 42 Notes to the financial statements

RBST Corporate Directory 55

Eriskay ponies

www.rbst.org.uk

Cover photograph: White Park calf

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Our goals and what we’re doing to achieve them

Goal: A reverse in the decline of all livestock breeds on the Watchlist

Goal: A comprehensive up-to-date Gene Bank

What: We aim to have all the breeds on the Watchlist stable by 2028

How:

What: The RBST Gene Bank is the charity’s single biggest investment and a key national asset. We will work towards making this a National Gene Bank, supported by government

How:

Goal: Livestock genetic diversity recognised by government and wider society as a fundamental element of agricultural and biodiversity policy

What: We lobby for genetic diversity to be recognised in government policies such as the Agriculture Act, Rural Development Policy and Biodiversity Policy

How:

Welsh sow

www.rbst.org.uk

4

Gail Sprake Chairman

A message from our Chairman

Seeing the desire of the Scottish Groups to work together to better promote the breeds in a Scottish context, and the Board’s willingness to back the initiative was particularly exciting.

2020 saw considerable progress on restoring our native breeds back to where they should be, at the heart of UK agriculture, and restoring RBST’s position as an efficient, effective and well-run conservation organisation.

I should not conclude without saying something about Covid-19. The impact for many has been quite devastating, but it has shown that RBST can adapt and indeed still thrive in the worst of times. We may not have been able to attend shows, but we found other ways to reach members and indeed recruit new ones.

RBST works to secure the future for all our rare native livestock and equines, but we need to make sure we are using all our resources as efficiently and effectively as possible, so I was delighted that in 2020 we were able to produce our first overarching conservation strategy in many years.

The same is true of our wider stakeholders, by adopting new ways of doing things we’ve extended our reach to new audiences who, going forward, we will continue to engage with. We have also reduced our expenditure without any reduction in our impact.

Firstly, we will promote native breeds for the purposes they were bred; providing us with food, clothing and transport, secondly, we will lobby government to invest in the public benefits the breeds provide, and thirdly for those breeds that, according to the Watchlist, face particular challenges, we will aim to work with the relevant breed society and individual breeders on dedicated projects to turn their fortunes around. You can read more on all this in the conservation section of this report.

Looking forward, 2021 continues to present challenges and we can expect the impact of Covid-19 will be with us for a while longer, but I am confident that RBST has the structures and resources in place to ever better conserve our native breeds.

2020 also saw RBST raising its profile among its key stakeholders. I have been delighted by the increasing positive engagement we are having with breed societies, the farming and environmental organisations and the media; we are actively engaging with government on agriculture policy and RBST’s views are now regularly reported in the rural and farming media and we are increasingly being asked to give our opinion on key issues.

This is the eighth and final Chairman’s report that it is my privilege to present since my term of office concludes at the 2021 AGM. The 2020 Report and Accounts confirm beyond doubt that RBST is now an increasingly formidable presence, true to our charitable objects and a professionally governed and managed conservation organisation.

But perhaps most gratifyingly of all, after many years of decline, 2020 saw a turnaround in RBST’s membership income: in 2020 it was up 3% up on 2019.

However, the increase in membership income was not the only good financial news. As a result of effective financial management, 2020 saw RBST reducing both its operating deficit and its unrestricted spending. There is, of course, more information on this in the accounts.

Much of the thanks for RBST’s success is due to the dynamism shown by so many of our engaged members and support groups. I’ve been impressed by the extent to which members so readily made use of new video conferencing technology during the lockdown, conducting meetings and events via Teams or Zoom. I am sure these innovative approaches will continue.

www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Christopher Price CEO

A message from our Chief Executive Officer

our advice on implementing the Agriculture Bill to support native breeds.

Our native breeds exist to meet human needs, we need to get them back to where they should be, at the heart of British agriculture; and that means making it easier and more attractive for people to keep them, and in some cases, that requires Government help.

But we could not have achieved anything, and would not have been able to achieve anything, without ensuring RBST was being properly run, and much of 2020 was spent putting the business side of the organisation onto a proper footing.

So we were delighted when all our lobbying paid off, and the Government announced, in the Agriculture Bill, that it would be giving financial assistance for the conservation of native livestock and equines. This was a massive win for RBST. We are now working with officials on what the scheme should look like.

Making sure we have the necessary structures and processes in place was a major job. 2020 saw RBST write its first fully costed 5 Year Business Strategy, which came into effect at the start of this year.

We also had to put our finances in order, that meant having a proper budget and proper financial controls. And as the Director of Finance Claire McNicol says, it paid off.

But it’s not just about paying people to keep native breeds, it’s also about removing the obstacles, so that’s why we spent so much of the year on issues like securing the future for the local abattoir network and scrapping the OTM rule – we aren’t there yet, but we are on the way.

In 2020 we generated an unrestricted net surplus. Even better, in 2020 we turned around the long-term decline in membership income.

Sadly, there are some breeds which may never thrive without direct help from RBST. But we need to be sure we are working on the right issues in the right way. And that’s why, in 2020 we embarked upon our first comprehensive conservation strategy, devising projects that will make a real difference, based on prioritised need – some concerning individual breeds, some concerning individual species and some overarching. We are committed to using the Trust’s money efficiently and effectively to deliver targeted conservation projects with tangible results.

Of course, we cannot do it all ourselves. RBST depends on its members to get things done, some as individuals, some as members of support groups – the groups set up by the Board to help RBST deliver its objectives.

One of the themes of 2021 is to find ways to further energise and empower our engaged members.

This year, the Scottish Support Groups have been particularly keen to create their own identity north of the border and we responded by setting up the Scottish Forum, a Scotland-wide members’ group aimed at giving RBST a stronger voice in Scotland, and giving Scotland a stronger voice in RBST.

Finally, we need to promote the breeds, both to the farmers and smallholders who should be keeping them, and to the public who should be concerned about them.

So, there you have it. We have done a lot, and it’s paying off. But there is still more to do.

Sadly, due to the restrictions of Covid-19, we were not able to go to shows, but we did make use of the media. And as I hope you saw, this was absolutely fantastic; it could hardly have gone better. We had excellent coverage in the nationals, the farming and smallholder press, the countryside press and the regional press.

RBST is getting back to where we should be – seen as a serious conservation player and with its own house back in order. Covid-19 has been a challenge, but it did not knock us off course. So huge thanks to everyone involved - trustees, members and, in particular, our wonderful staff team: Claire McNicol, Tom Blunt, Andrea Parry Jones, Rachel Foley, Jean Henderson, Hilary Young and Jo Linforth, and our two communications advisers Linda Trotman and Isobel Davidson.

RBST can be pretty pleased with what it achieved in 2020, and equally pleased with the extent to which those achievements were recognised.

Aside from the media, we had increasing numbers of breed societies reaching out to us; we had a Defra Director wanting to know more about what we do and we introduced her to members in the Yorkshire Dales. We had both a National Park and an AONB wanting

It would, of course, be an exaggeration to say that we’ve got everything right, but I hope not much of one.

www.rbst.org.uk

6

Claire McNicol Director of Finance & Operations

A message from our Director of Finance and Operations

despite RBST making increased levels of fundraising and grant applications. This work will continue in 2021.

2020 was a year of considerable success for RBST, both from a conservation perspective and a financial perspective, despite the impact of Covid-19 bringing the world to a virtual standstill. Economies and societies struggled through unprecedented times, which brought with them challenges for individuals and organisations alike. RBST stayed true to its charitable objectives, and whilst work and events that involved face to face contact were almost entirely cancelled, there were silver linings. RBST grasped opportunities for learning and growth whilst keeping staff and members in the forefront of the mission. 2020 was a year of accomplishment in many aspects with plenty of lessons learnt to take forward and RBST’s increasing diligence and strategic approach are clearly demonstrated throughout the 2020 finances.

RBST continues to be pleased with the improvements in financial control, and an unrestricted surplus of £69,007 shows the control is paying off. Income lagged in 2019, and this is expected to remain a challenge into 2021. However, with continued diligence applied to cost, additional income streams being actively (and successfully) sought, including consulting, corporate partners and management fees, as well as a targeted and strategic approach applied to the direction of RBST’s resources in terms of both finances and staff time, RBST entered 2021 with much to be proud of and much to continue to build on.

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Membership income
200,000
180,000
160,000
140,000
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total Membership income
Income from Members Subscriptions
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Membership income has turned a corner and in 2020 RBST addressed a long-standing downward trend in member subscriptions. Over the last four years RBST’s income from individual members had been declining at around 3% year on year. However in 2020 this was not only stabilised, but reversed, and grew by 3%. This was a huge achievement against a challenging backdrop of both Covid-19 and also a general trend across the charity sector of declining memberships. That said, in 2020 the amount of Gift Aid RBST was able to claim decreased, as did the amount of income generated from corporate partners. Both are being focused on in 2021.

Operating deficit/surplus

RBST has continued to make great progress financially, reducing the operating deficit to a three-year low. This was achieved by rigorously controlling the Unrestricted spending, ensuring the maximum amount of impact was generated with each pound spent, and this diligence paid off as Unrestricted spending was down 23% compared to 2019. However, spending from Designated and Restricted funds was consciously maintained to ensure RBST continued to promote its charitable objectives uninterrupted. Unrestricted activities in 2020 generated a surplus of £69,007, but RBST incurred net expenditure from Designated and Restricted funds of £169,064 as the Trust chose not to disrupt important flagship projects such as the Farm Parks Project, the Lop Project, RBST’s continued work enhancing the Gene Bank and work with Heavy Horses. Grant application was challenging in 2020 with much funding being focused on frontline Covid-19 work

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300,000
200,000
100,000
0
(100,000) 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
(200,000)
(300,000)
(400,000)
(500,000)
Expenditure
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
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2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Total Expenditure Unrestricted spend
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www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Promoting

8 Hebrideans

Conservation Strategy

2020 saw RBST adopt its first comprehensive conservation strategy, ensuring all its resources, both time and money, are being used efficiently and effectively to secure the best results for our native livestock and equines.

In 2020, we built on this primarily through a series of media initiatives, promoting native breed products and the wider benefits they provide. Going forward, as the UK moves out of lockdown, we will expand on this through a programme of promotional events.

Removing obstacles

Whilst there is much we can do ourselves to improve the commercial benefits of keeping native breeds, we would be in an even stronger position with support from Government. Accordingly, much of 2020 was spent working with Government to introduce measures to better support native breed keepers.

We were delighted that in October Government agreed to introduce the EU Geographical Indicators designations: protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) into UK law. We will build on these to promote native breed produce.

We also worked hard to alert Government to the plight of the small abattoir sector. The decline in the number of small local abattoirs capable of dealing with native breeds is a major concern. Government needs to make a one-off investment to ensure the remaining small abattoirs are “match fit” for the unsubsidised, more market-facing world. Where the abattoirs have disappeared, the investment needs to be in mobile or temporary units.

The strategy has three parts. Firstly, we promote the reasons for which the animals were initially bred, whether to provide food, fibre or transport; secondly, we lobby for government to invest in the public benefits provided by the breeds; and thirdly, where there is a clear need, RBST will carry out its own bespoke conservation projects.

Commercial opportunities

In addition, Government and the FSA must commit to regulation that is proportionate whilst compatible with the maintenance of standards.

Our native breeds were bred for particular commercial purposes, to meet human needs, whether that be the production of meat, wool, milk, or eggs, or to provide practical services such as grazing or transportation.

Public support

As the UK leaves the EU, and farmers face an unsubsidised, more market-facing world in which people are increasingly concerned about the provenance of their food and its environmental impact, niche, low-input products with a good story to tell, like native breed meat, will become more attractive to consumers.

November 2020 saw the Agriculture Act become law, and the culmination of many years’ lobbying by RBST for Government to properly invest in all the public benefits provided by our native livestock and equines.

After all, native breeds do not just provide benefits for their owners, they benefit everyone, such as through the way they enhance the landscape and improve biodiversity through conservation grazing.

Promoting native breeds

RBST has done much to promote native breed produce to both farmers and consumers. The work began in 2019: promoting native breed turkey at the Museum of English Rural Life in Reading, British Lop pork with the Forever Food Initiative in London and lamb at the Primitive Produce Project launch in Cumbria. The aim of each of these initiatives was not just to promote the produce, but also to confirm that it also makes commercial sense for the farmer.

Then there is the vitally important task of maintaining genetic diversity. If UK farming is to have a secure future over the long term in the face of climate change and increased disease risks, we need to maintain the full range of genetic resources to help us respond.

www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Promoting

Going into 2021, we are working with Defra in England on how the support schemes should be rolled out in practice, and with the devolved Governments on the need for them to introduce similar policies.

RBST’s own projects

Finally, there are those breeds that will struggle to be viable commercially, and whose situation is such that they cannot be supported through Government support.

Accordingly, in 2020 we began to roll out a series of bespoke projects.

Firstly, overarching projects that apply across the species. In the main they will be major, long-term initiatives. The Farm Park Project aims to enhance and expand our network of farm parks. Accreditation is based largely on the parks’ conservation breeding and public outreach.

The Gene Bank Project, run with our partners in the British Pig Association and the National Sheep Association, is redesigning the Gene Bank from first principles based on UN and EU best practice guidance.

Next there are the species-specific and breed specific projects, projects intended to improve the fortunes of individual breeds. In general, they will involve a combination of in situ and ex situ elements. These can be devised by the relevant breed society or RBST.

An example of this approach would be the British Lop Project where RBST is working with the British Lop Society with the very generous support of the Gerald Fallowes Trust, and we have similar projects to assist both longwool sheep and dairy cattle breeds in development.

In planning conservation projects it is often possible to analyse the records from herd and flock books, but their accuracy is ultimately dependent on the accuracy of information independently submitted over many years. Genomic assessment can clearly differentiate breeds, clearly identify introgressions from other breeds, and be used to manage breeding programmes. With genomic analysis now being routine, its use is an increasing component of the RBST’s conservation projects.

RBST has much to be proud of, nothing has gone extinct on our watch. We now have the opportunity to take things to the next level, not just saving the breeds but actively promoting and restoring them to where they ought to be.

Meat

Geographic Indicators

The most effective way of conserving our native livestock is to promote them for the reasons they were initially bred, providing us with meat and other products.

So RBST spent much of 2020 working to create and promote markets for the products that make it financially worthwhile for farmers and smallholders to keep the breeds.

We ran three major initiatives:

Finding End Markets: The buy native campaign

Focussing primarily on the South West and North of the country, and working through the regional and farming press, we set out to highlight that meats from native breeds are generally produced on a smaller scale, using traditional farming methods which are kind to the natural environment, and which are based around high standards of animal welfare.

We emphasised that being slower-grown, native breed meat is high quality and delicious, with different breeds having distinct tastes and textures.

Of course, it’s not just about meat. As we aimed to make clear, the sale of wool and sheepskin products is equally important for conservation.

Finally, we reminded potential consumers of where they could purchase native breed produce.

As a columnist in the Western Morning News wrote in response to our campaign:

It might sound counter-intuitive, but heritage breeds which are fast disappearing don’t need worthy vegans to ensure the survival of their kind – they need hungry carnivores keen to taste pork from the British Lop pig, a rib of beef from Red Devon cattle or a shoulder of lamb from a Greyface Dartmoor sheep.

It’s proof of the adage, well understood in much of the countryside, that to have a sporting chance of survival in a crowded and demanding world, everything needs to earn its keep.

October 2020 saw the success of our campaign for Government to introduce a new UK protected food name scheme to replace the old EU geographic indicators scheme.

Geographic Indicators are an EU scheme to use labels on products to show their provenance or demonstrate that they are made according to traditional methods. The aim is to give consumers greater certainty over what they are buying.

The indicators currently protect several native breed products, including meat from Herdwick and Manx Loaghtan sheep and Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs, and Single Gloucester cheese, so it was important the UK retained them despite leaving the EU.

Accordingly, there are three new UK Geographic Indicator logos, protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI) and traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), which came into effect on January 1, 2021.

Farmers Guardian quoted RBST CEO Christopher Price as saying that the new scheme would give “commercial advantages for high-quality sought-after product from native breed livestock”.

Turkey Project

The most effective way of conserving our native breeds, is to show it makes commercial sense to keep them. That was the thinking behind our Native Turkey Project conducted in collaboration with the Poultry Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University.

Eight native breed turkeys (Norfolk Black and Slate breeds) were compared to a test set of 20 commercial birds, with measurements taken at 12 and 18 weeks for the commercial strains in order to benchmark meat quality in the native breeds. Tenderness was measured as the force exerted on the sample in order to elicit a representative change in tension. Bone strength was assessed by measuring tibia and femur strength per kilogram of bird weight.

The research findings highlighted two important commercial advantages for farmers who choose native breed turkeys. Firstly, that stronger leg bones can reduce the losses from lameness, which is an ongoing concern for many commercial turkey businesses.

Secondly, the improved tenderness of the native breed turkey meat appeals to consumers, particularly as the trend grows for eating less meat but choosing high quality products that are sourced locally and which are reared in high welfare systems.

There are currently 11 native breeds of turkey on the Watchlist for rare poultry, including the Slate, Norfolk Black and British White breeds. Going forward, RBST will aim to improve their conservation by encouraging poultry farmers to consider the commercial advantages shown by the findings of the new research.

www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

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Promoting
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Border Leicester. Photo by Ina Semple
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Wool - the “Love a Longwool” campaign Lincoln Longwool

The aims for the “Love a Longwool” campaign were to:

In 2020 RBST put its fundraising efforts behind a campaign to ensure the future of our native Longwool breeds:

RBST is now working with the breed societies, keepers and volunteers to carry out breed analysis on the longwool breeds which will help create and inform breeding programmes.

We made effective use of the media to promote the diverse uses of the breeds, as providers of meat, wool and conservation grazing, securing extensive coverage in Farmers Guardian, Country Life, NFU Countryside, The Yorkshire Post, the Western Morning News, the Eastern Daily Press and BBC radio.

the Border Leicester, Cotswold, Devon & Cornwall Longwool, Greyface Dartmoor, Leicester Longwool, Lincoln Longwool, Teeswater, Wensleydale and Whiteface Dartmoor.

Once the Covid-19 lockdown is over, the plan is to hold a series of event promoting the breeds.

Over the longer term, the funds will also help increase the collection of embryos to add to the RBST Gene Bank, which will help to ensure that should disaster strike any of the breeds we will have sufficient embryos in store, representing a diversity of bloodlines, to give a flying start to a project to recreate a breed and ensure its future genetic integrity.

www.rbst.org.uk

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Conservation grazing

The Covid-19 lockdown meant the planned events could not go ahead, so we set out to make the case for grazing livestock through the media.

Although our native livestock may have been initially bred to provide us with food and clothing, nowadays their role in improving the environment is just as important. For many years, RBST has led the Grazing Animals Project, which aims to promote the use of native livestock in conservation grazing and train land managers in how to select and care for their animals.

We published pieces in The Ark on the use of equine breeds for conservation grazing and on the benefits of wood pasture, habitats in which larger herbivores graze amongst trees and shrubs. Cattle, horses, pigs, sheep and goats can all be used in such systems.

We were also active on social media. In a series of blogs entitled “rare breed briefings” we made the case for using native livestock in conservation grazing generally, and then specifically on the use of equines and pigs. These were widely circulated on our main social media platforms.

ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Promoting A new structure for the Farm Parks network

Since its inception, RBST has been associated with farm parks.

Founder Chairman Joe Henson had started opening his farm gates to the public in 1971 so that the growing collection of rare breeds that his family had amassed at Bemborough could help pay their way. When RBST was launched in 1973, the Cotswold Farm Park was already proving that rare breeds could attract the interest of the general public when displayed in a farm setting and the first RBST Council agreed to encourage the establishment of farm parks around the country, ultimately introducing its approved farm park scheme.

The defining features of RBST approved farm parks have been their active breeding groups of Watchlist breeds and the fact that they are open to the public. They are a diverse group, varying in size and style. Some are council owned, some are a charity and others are privately owned. Together they provide a shop window for RBST giving the general public the chance to meet and learn about our native breeds.

When RBST undertook a strategic review of its work, the development of the farm park network was a key element and the Trust was fortunate to secure a major grant from the Prince of Wales’ Charitable Fund to invest in the network.

Under the new RBST farm park structure, the status of accredited farm park remains, and this will encompass city farms. Farm parks looking to join the network, but not currently able to meet the membership criteria, will be able to apply for provisional membership.

Two new categories have been added to extend the scope of the scheme beyond farm parks whose primary function is as a visitor attraction: Associate and Educational membership. Associate membership is aimed at breeding establishments which typically have a mission that does not focus primarily on farm livestock, but which may keep and breed rare breeds as an adjunct to their core conservation activity, a typical example being a living history museum. Educational membership is open to institutions which promote, preserve, breed and register rare and native breeds that do not have the capacity to open to the public but play a vital role in the education and engagement of all generations.

www.rbst.org.uk

14 Buff Orpington

in 2020

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Farm Manager Craig Holmes with farm team members
Hannah Hepburn (left) and Morgan Gilmour
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Isabel Bywater and Christopher Sykes perform
the official opening at Sledmere House
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Almond Valley in West Lothian quickly achieved the status of RBST Approved Farm Park with a commitment to producing breeding stock to contribute to breed conservation. After previously relying on stock being brought in on a seasonal basis, Almond Valley’s own breeding programme started in 2019.

Sledmere House sits in 75 acres of parkland in the Yorkshire Wolds and is a thriving estate with extensive commercial farming interests plus visitor attractions which include the historic house itself, walled gardens, café and farm shops and, of course, its rare breed farm park.

The aim was to bring a conservation emphasis to the farm, with a focus on rare breeds, producing breeding stock not just for its own purposes, but to sell on to breeders to help increase rare breed flock and herd numbers. Existing commercial livestock, which included sheep, cattle, goats, pigs and poultry was quickly moved on, to be replaced by herds of Golden Guernsey and Bagot goats, a flock of North Ronaldsay sheep and Tamworth pigs, closely followed by rare breed poultry and waterfowl. In 2020 a Bagot billy and a Golden Guernsey billy bred at Almond Valley were welcomed by RBST President Jimmy Doherty to be used in the breeding programme at Jimmy’s Farm.

The farm park is based around Sledmere’s historic stable block, which until 2015 had housed racing stables. Officially a Shire Horse Centre, one of only a handful of Approved Shire Horse Society Centres, while Sledmere has Shires as its central focus, it also demonstrates a real commitment to rare breeds, with breeding programmes in place for other species, including Leicester Longwool sheep and Oxford Sandy and Black pigs as well as a range of rare breed poultry.

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The Merrist Wood farm team:
Luke Gates, Laura Thomas and Charlie Dodd
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Stepping back in time at Acton Scott
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Merrist Wood , Surrey’s only land-based college, became the first educational establishment to achieve accreditation under RBST’s expanded farm park scheme. It met the criteria for approval with its active programme of rare breeds conservation breeding and its use of its livestock for teaching and learning.

Acton Scott in Shropshire is an historic working farm showing how rural life was lived before the introduction of the internal combustion engine, an era when our native breeds were providing food, helping work the land and providing transportation.

The current native rare breed inventory at Merrist Wood includes Black Wensleydale, Portland, Balwen and Castlemilk Moorit sheep, Gloucester cattle, Oxford Sandy and Black pigs, Golden Guernsey goats and a selection of rare breeds of poultry. Rare breeds are now integral to Merrist Wood. As well as having them available for teaching the practical hands-on aspects of animal husbandry, they form an important resource for the study of genetics and breeding programmes.

Stars of the livestock at Acton Scott are the three working Shires, Joe, William and Alfie. The farm also keeps a small suckler herd of Original Population Dairy Shorthorn, a flock of Shropshire sheep, which may well be descendants of the sheep traditionally kept at Acton Scott, Gloucestershire Old Spots pigs and a range of rare breed poultry, with the principal breeds being Derbyshire Redcaps and Silver Dorkings.

www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Promoting The 2020 Marsh Award heroes

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Peter Hayford
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Marcus Bates
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The 2020 RBST Marsh Awards for unsung heroes went to three people who have each dedicated many years to the cause of rare breeds.

The award for

Conservation in Genetic Bio-Diversity went to Marcus Bates for his work on pig genetics, the Lifetime Achievement Award to poultry expert Peter Hayford and Support Group Volunteer 2020 was Francine Burn of RBST Three Counties.

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Francine Burn with husband Stephen
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Marcus Bates is Chief Executive and Pedigree Secretary of the British Pig Association (BPA), RBST’s partner organisation in its pig gene-banking work. Marcus has worked tirelessly above and beyond the scope of his official BPA role, to ensure that the pig Gene Bank goes from strength to strength.

RBST Poultry Ambassador Peter Hayford has been a member of RBST for many decades. A founder member of the RBST Poultry Working Group, he spends his time supporting chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese. He was a founder member of the Rare Poultry Society and its President for several years, is Chairman of The Turkey Club and a Lifetime Member of The Poultry Club and is a nationally respected exhibitor and poultry judge.

A long-standing member of RBST, Francine Burn was a founder member of the Three Counties Support Group and continues to be one of its mainstays. She arranges the attendance of the Group at many shows, with a small but enthusiastic team. Francine has been an RBST member for 20 years, 11 of those she describes as “very active” attending six or seven events a year usually with some of her sheep and sometimes her Eriskay pony.

www.rbst.org.uk

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Reaching out to the next generation:

In 2020, RBST established a new partnership to help it reach out to one of its key target audiences – the younger generation.

Countryside Classroom helps teachers, home educating parents and other groups to find resources, places to visit and educational support relating to the themes of food, farming and the natural environment. Its website contains a huge range of educational content designed to inspire and enable teaching around these themes so that young people can develop a better connection with all matters pertaining to the countryside.

Partners work together to ensure the success of Countryside Classroom and benefit from the opportunities to exchange knowledge, share expertise and networks and collaborate in new ways to address shared challenges. In the first phase of RBST’s involvement, it uploaded the farm park network under places to visit and as teaching and information resources contributed breed identification posters, conservation grazing and GAP information, case studies and, for younger children, a range of activity sheets.

As well as making RBST information resources available to a wider audience, involvement in Countryside Classroom also gives RBST a very effective channel for making material available to its own farm park network. While some farm parks have their own educational resources or dedicated education officers, others do not always have the time or budgets to generate their own materials. Via RBST on Countryside Classroom, they have easy access to teaching materials which will help enhance the experiences of their young visitors.

www.rbst.org.uk

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Securing

18 Tamworths

RBST lobbying on Agriculture Act heralds a new era for native breeds

For the last 40 years the conservation of our native farm livestock and equines has been entirely due to the hard work of a few dedicated and tenacious individuals.

allows the Government to pay for: ‘conserving native livestock, native equines or genetic resources relating to any such animal’. The Government’s explanatory notes give an indication of the sort of things the money could be spent on:

‘These measures could, for example, be used to incentivise farmers to invest in rearing rare and native breeds or species, because these genetic resources may offer a way to sustainably increase food production and/ or improve our capacity to adapt to climate change or the emergence of new animal or plant diseases by providing a breadth of genetic traits. These powers could also be used to incentivise existing gene banks to safeguard UK native and rare breed genetics or to provide on farm measures to manage disease risks amongst populations of rare breed livestock.’

So, the scope of power is very wide, perhaps surprisingly so. It allows for the support of all native livestock and equines. There is no requirement that they are rare, or that they are a member of a recognised breed or even registered.

There are few conservation organisations that can claim that nothing has gone extinct since they were founded, still less that it is entirely because of the activities of its own members.

But in England at least, thanks to RBST’S effective lobbying on the Agriculture Act 2020, that’s all set to change. In future our native breeds will have some help from the Government.

The Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments will be making their own decision, though RBST will be encouraging them to adopt a similar approach to England.

The overall aim of the Agriculture Act is to shift agricultural policy towards paying farmers for the various public benefits they provide, rather than paying them for simply owning land, as has been the case with the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), the existing scheme for supporting farmers.

The power to directly support native livestock and equines is not the only one of interest in the Act. There are also powers to give financial assistance for new entrants, improving productivity and support for marketing. RBST will be pressing government to use these powers to both help revive the local abattoir network and promote the full range of native livestock produce.

The changes won’t happen overnight. BPS will be phased out over seven years starting in 2021 and the new schemes will be phased in over the same period. As yet, it is not known how much money will be involved.

The RBST team is now working with Government officials on what forms the new support should look like in practice.

Most of the public benefits mentioned in the Agriculture Bill are environmental, such as improving water and soil quality, or to mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, the list also

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Securing Abattoirs – a crucial role in the native breed supply chain

2020 saw RBST significantly increase its work promoting the need for a comprehensive network of local abattoirs.

We worked with allies in Parliament to press Government to agree on the need to better support the network, and in November, along with the Sustainable Food Trust and The Craft Butchers Association, we helped establish the Abattoir Sector Group, an alliance intended to make the case as widely as possible.

One of the biggest challenges for native breed farmers is finding an appropriate abattoir for their animals. Most keepers of rare and native breeds find they have to market their products outside the conventional supply chain if they are to have financially viable businesses. They need to add value and find their own markets, generally direct selling to the end consumer.

A local abattoir network is therefore essential if these producers are going to transport their livestock to slaughter at a reasonable cost and maintain the high welfare standards expected by their customer base.

This is not just a matter of the number of abattoirs. The first problem is their uneven distribution across the country. Although Devon has six small abattoirs, there are almost none in the north of England – a strong livestock area. There are

none either on the Isle of Wight, the Isles of Scilly, the Isle of Skye, nor on most other Scottish islands, with the exception of mainland Shetland - meaning farmers must face the additional costs, and animals the additional stress, of loading and transport by boat. Even in mainland Scotland, small-scale businesses are faced with long road journeys to abattoirs that will accept their stock for private kills.

But even if there is an abattoir, many of the larger scale ones are single-species, whereas producers with rare and native breeds often rely on a mixed farming system with several farmed species to make their farming business viable.

Moreover, larger abattoirs often do not accept small numbers or carry out “private kills” where the customer gets their own product back. Many will not kill cattle over thirty months (OTM), making it more difficult for farmers rearing slow-growing animals in a low-input system to maintain a viable business model.

Rare breed farmers overwhelmingly want to use abattoirs that operate to the highest welfare standards. And those standards need to be enforced if they are to have any credibility; no one should object to that. But it is vital to keep the cost of compliance to the absolute minimum consistent with maintaining standards if the abattoir network is to survive. That means ensuring enforcement is proportionate and efficient which means making the best use of the available technology.

An improvement in the network of smaller abattoirs is not just a matter for farmers though; it would also benefit the wider rural economy. Large scale abattoirs require workers to carry out highly specific, often highly mechanised, procedures as part of the slaughtering process and they employ relatively large numbers of narrower skilled, lower paid people in one location. More local and smaller abattoirs, where each worker is required to be more highly and multi-skilled, with the flexibility for part-time work, would benefit rural areas where local employment is less accessible.

Smaller locally based abattoirs would facilitate the creation of new premium markets for distinctive meat products from local breeds and the expansion of related businesses such as butchers and farm shops.

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A unified voice for rare breeds in Scotland

One of the key announcements at RBST’s 2020 AGM was the formation of a new Scottish Forum and the creation of the role of Vice President Scotland.

“As town and countryside alike look to the Scottish Parliament elections, we will be looking for commitments to supporting native breeds in future agricultural policy. We will also be seeking action to reverse the decline of local abattoirs, which is having such adverse effects on rural communities and rare breeds across Scotland.”

Martin brings a wealth of commercial experience to this new role, alongside his passion for rare breed conservation and has played a valued role on RBST Committees for some time. The Scottish Forum will help RBST take an important step forward in Scotland, strengthening and co-ordinating its activities across the country.

A number of native breeds which have become very rare are irreplaceable in terms of Scottish heritage. These breeds have a crucial role to play in both environmental land management and the vitality of rural communities, and RBST is working hard to secure their future.

The new Forum will supplement the work of the three Scotland Support Groups by co-ordinating and unifying the voice of rare breeds interests across Scotland. It will also strengthen representation of Scottish interests within RBST.

Taking on the role of VP Scotland is former Trustee Martin Beard. His task is to ensure clear focus and strategic direction for the charity’s activity in Scotland. Martin has established, directed and grown businesses around the world through board-level leadership roles in industries ranging from telecoms to natural resources. He rears rare breeds including Large Black and Oxford Sandy and Black pigs and Portland sheep in Angus.

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Martin Beard
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Speaking about his new role, Martin says: “This is an exciting time for the conservation of native breeds in Scotland. There is a fantastic and growing network of dedicated and knowledgeable rare breed farmers across the country, showing how supporting the natural environment can go hand in hand with commercial success.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Delivering

22 Suffolks

RBST Expert Advisory Panel

As a conservation organisation, RBST needs to be sure it is operating in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge and best practice.

Accordingly, in 2020 we set up the RBST Expert Advisory Panel (EAP), made up of subject experts from industry and academia and tasked with considering the future direction of RBST conservation strategies and objectives.

The inaugural meeting took place at Clarence House in February. The Panel considered a range of leading questions covering contemporary issues in livestock farming and conservation, including social science and human geography, and securing the place of native breeds through combined, multidisciplinary approaches.

The EAP will continue to serve as subject specialists in RBST’s development of robust conservation programmes and scientific strategy, collaborating with the Conservation Team in delivering the Trust’s objectives and challenging its approach and policy.

The panel

Chaired by Professor Tim Morris , Vice-Chairman of the RBST Board of Trustees, the Panel brings together a mix of expertise intended to span the range of disciplines represented in the RBST scope and objectives:

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Delivering Watchlist - a time for change

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Lonk
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into account both the males and females that contribute to a population, and secondly, that the degree of inbreeding should be acknowledged. Accordingly, going forward, a breed of most concern will be one which is rare, with increased inbreeding, whereas those of least concern will not be rare and any inbreeding will be well managed.

In 2020, the RBST Board appointed a “task and finish group”, supported by the RBST Expert Advisory Panel, to review the methodology used for compiling the annual Watchlist.

2020 saw two new breeds join the Watchlist.

Old English Goat

The Old English goat became the fourth native goat breed to be recognised for Watchlist status.

With an estimated population of just 74 living adult females in 2019/2020, this ‘desperately rare’ native goat went straight into the RBST’s Critical category for the very rarest goats.

The Old English goat is often called the “original smallholder’s goat” because it was very popular with smallholders in the 19th century: small and shaggy, these hardy goats provided ample and regular milk for the household for very little cost as they are happy to eat what they find naturally and to live outdoors all year round.

With such low numbers of Old English goats still being kept, breeders use feral goats with Old English characteristics to maintain crucial genetic diversity. These feral goats live in the wild and a careful inspection regime and separate registration system is used to maintain the breed’s bloodlines and pedigree.

Given that the importance of native breeds has been recognised in the Agriculture Act, it was felt that a better, more realistic picture of the genetic health of individual breeds was needed, and that meant adopting a more contemporary approach that accorded with the latest best practice in livestock conservation.

The addition of the Old English goat to the RBST Watchlist means that the breed will now benefit from a further level of support from RBST, such as assistance in developing bespoke breed conservation plans alongside the Old English Goat Breeders Society, support in the use of the latest breeders’ software designed to prevent in-breeding, and RBST will help work towards encouraging more people to become Old English goat breeders.

The review was completed in early 2021 and its recommendations are reflected in the new Watchlist.

The key conclusion of the task and finish group was that the time had come for a significant change in methodology if the Watchlist is to remain a meaningful conservation tool. Prof Tim Morris, who headed the group, explained: “As with any conservation work, it is important to assess the situation of the entire breed.”

Lonk

A sheep breed that was added to the Watchlist in 2020 is the Lonk and its supporters hope that its inclusion will help bring more notice to this breed which, although it has a long history, is perhaps not so well known outside of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Pennines.

Historically, RBST has based the Watchlist on registered females, having obtained these figures from breed societies. The concern was that, continuing to base RBST’s conservation programme purely on the estimated number of females, without a consideration of the contribution of males, could result in inaccurate conclusions on the breed’s status.

A powerful hill sheep, horned with a black and white marked face and a dense yet fine fleece to protect against the weather, Lonks are supremely hardy. Lonk lamb has superb eating qualities, being fine-grained and naturally lean with a great flavour. It also produces a large carcass, with lambs easily finished to 50kg, producing a 24kg carcass from grass.

A significant threat to the breed is its geographic concentration: three large flocks account for most of the annual Lonk registrations and a significant disease outbreak could spell disaster for the breed.

The new methodology therefore has two key aspects. Firstly, that prioritisation should be based on the internationally recognised concept of effective population size, which takes

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Watchlist 2021-22 The 2021-22 Watchlist reflects RBST’s new approach to breed prioritisation with a methodology that compares population size with measures of inbreeding and takes into account both females and males and the internationally recognised effective Rare Breeds Survival Trust population calculation. RBST would like to thank Defra and UK Breed Societies for their help producing the Watchlist. Sheep Cattle Equine Pigs Poultry PRIORITY PRIORITY PRIORITY PRIORITY Chickens Turkeys Lincoln Longwool Albion Cleveland Bay Horse Berkshire PRIORITY PRIORITY North Ronaldsay Chillingham Wild Cattle Dales Pony British Landrace Andalusian Blue Whitefaced Woodland (feral) Dartmoor Pony British Lop Brussbar Burmese Bourbon Red British White Welsh Mountain Pedigree Dairy Shorthorn (Original Eriskay Pony Large Black Campine Bronze Population) Exmoor Pony Middle White Derbyshire Redcap Buff AT RISK Gloucester Hackney Horse and Pony Tamworth Dorking Cröllwitzer (Pied) Balwen Border Leicester Boreray Northern Dairy ShorthornVaynol Suffolk HorseAT RISK AT RISKBritish Saddleback Hamburgh Malay Marsh Daisy Modern Game Harvey SpeckledNarragansett Nebraskan Norfolk Black Castlemilk Moorit AT RISK Clydesdale Horse Gloucestershire Old Spots Modern Langshan Slate Cotswold Derbyshire GritstoneDevon and Cornwall British WhiteIrish Moiled Lincoln Red (Original Fell Pony Highland Pony New Forest Pony Large White Oxford Sandy and Black Welsh North Holland Blue Old English Pheasant Rhodebar Fowl Ducks PRIORITYOrpington Longwool Population) Shire Horse Rumpless Game Pekin Devon Closewool Native Aberdeen Angus Scots Dumpy Shetland Dorset Down Dorset Horn Greyface Dartmoor ShetlandTraditional HerefordWhite Park UK NATIVE BREEDSShetland Pony Welsh Pony and Cob (all Goats Scots Grey Sicilian Buttercup Spanish Sultan Silver Bantam Stanbridge White Welsh Harlequin Hill Radnor Whitebred Shorthorn sections) PRIORITY Sussex UK BREEDS Leicester Longwool English Goat Welbar Abacot Ranger Llanwenog Lonk Manx Loaghtan Norfolk Horn UK NATIVE BREEDSAberdeen Angus Ayrshire Beef Shorthorn IRISH BREEDS IN THE UK Connemara pony Irish Draught horse Old English GoatAT RISK UK BREEDSAncona Australorp British Araucana Aylesbury Black East IndianCampbell Cayuga Crested Oxford Down Portland Soay Belted Galloway British Friesian Dairy Shorthorn BagotGolden Guernsey British Faverolles Buff OrpingtonCochin Cream Legbar Hookbill Magpie Rouen (Exhibition) Silver Appleyard Teeswater Devon Croad Langshan Torwen Badgerface Welsh Dexter Indian Game _Geese_ Ixworth Wensleydale Whiteface Dartmoor Galloway - Including White and Riggit Legbar Leghorn PRIORITYBrecon Buff Buff Back UK NATIVE BREEDS Guernsey Hereford Minorca Nankin Embden in the UK)(as standardised Beulah Highland Norfolk Grey Grey Back Black Welsh Mountain Blackface (Scottish) Blueface Leicester Jersey Lincoln RedLonghorn Old English Game Orpington (non Buff) Rosecomb Sebright Pilgrim Roman Sebastopol Shetland Brecknock Hill Cheviot Luing Steinbacher Clun Forest Red Poll Toulouse (Exhibition) Dalesbred South Devon West of England Exmoor Horn Sussex Hampshire Down Welsh Black Hebridean IRISH BREEDS IN THE UK Herdwick Jacob Kerry Kerry Hill _[These breeds were formerly considered to be ]*_ Llandovery Whiteface Hill _Priority or At Risk breeds_ Lleyn North Country Cheviot Poll Dorset Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Shetland Shropshire Southdown South Country Cheviot South Wales Mountain Suffolk Swaledale Torddu Badgerface Welsh Welsh Hill Speckled Welsh Mountain Wiltshire Horn IRISH BREEDS IN THE UK Galway*

Rare Breeds Survival Trust

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North Ronaldsay sheep
Help save rare and native breeds:
Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No 1204694
join or donate at www.rbst.org.uk Registered charity number: 269442
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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Delivering Gene Bank

set by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

The collection of genetic material forms an integral part of RBST’s conservation activities. It is a vital supplement to our conservation of living herds and flocks.

As a first stage, in November, the RBST Board agreed to adopt the FAO rationale for gene banking:

  1. Recreating breeds or breeding lines if they become lost. Storage for this purpose is long term and does not involve regular use or updating of the collection.

  2. Supporting in vivo conservation. The genetic materials can be used to minimize inbreeding and genetic drift in small populations. The combined use of live animals and preserved germplasm can be a very effective conservation tool.

  3. Material stored in a gene bank can provide a very effective backup if genetic problems occur. A decrease in effective population size and the resulting high level of inbreeding can increase the frequency of specific deleterious variant genes. This can be the case in even large populations if the gene pool is very small.

  4. The development of new lines or breeds, or the modifying or reorienting of a population.

As a result, over the years, we have collected a large quantity of genetic material from the UK’s rare and native breeds of cattle, sheep, equines, goats and pigs.

Traditionally the Gene Bank has consisted of semen, but more recently we have been able to collect embryos from cattle, sheep and goats.

As technology develops the possibilities for Gene Banking increase, for example, our British Lop Project, discussed elsewhere in this report, is researching the potential for freezing pig embryos.

In 2020 we made 53 additions to the Gene Bank. Most of these were in the form of donations, but nine new boar collections were made, six of which were carried out in conjunction with the BPA and the remainder as part of the British Lop project. The most recent Gene Bank development, in 2019 and 2020, has been the collection of tissue samples from two different Cleveland Bay horses.

The Gene Bank Review

The resources involved in running the Gene Bank are significant. The collection, storage and management of the genetic material requires considerable financial and time commitments.

  1. A resource for scientists carrying out DNA research. Gene banking allows quick and easy access to genetic materials.

Going forward, we will have clear goals for the collection of the genetic material we need based on specific breed conservation plans.

In addition, we will continue to manage the costs involved, selling material that is not required and consolidating its storage. In 2020 we went down from 18 storage providers to 11.

The Future

The RBST Gene Bank is one of the only privately run resource of its type in the world, and running it is a major commitment for a small charity. In 2020 we spent £125,140 acquiring and preserving genetic materials in it.

In every other country we are aware of, the resource is managed or funded by government, and the FAO guidance is clearly based on the presumption that gene banking will be a government led activity. Even in the UK the plant and seed equivalents to the Gene Bank are government run.

RBST believes the Government should accept responsibly for the UK Gene Bank. As we continue to make the Gene Bank more fit for purpose, we will continue to press Government for greater engagement.

Accordingly, in 2020, we began the work of reviewing our management of it, ensuring that it is being run as efficiently and effectively as possible, in accordance with best practice

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Registration campaign

Over the summer, RBST launched a campaign to encourage breeders to keep on registering their pedigree stock, concerned that this is something that could be overlooked as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic causing the cancellation of so many shows.

Registrations are crucial for rare breed conservation. Every registration helps to give a more accurate picture of the status of each breed, enabling the analysis of population trends and geographic distribution. These analyses then inform the compilation of the Watchlist and help determine RBST’s conservation objectives, decisions on the capture of genetic material, programmes to prevent inbreeding, and support for keepers’ commercial avenues.

As progeny of unregistered animals cannot be registered, any registrations missed could interrupt a bloodline that has survived for generations.

The campaign secured widespread coverage including in Farmers Weekly, Scottish Farmer, the Yorkshire Post, the Western Daily Press and the Western Morning News.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Delivering RBST breed conservation projects

Vaynol project

We can do a lot to secure the future of our native livestock and equines by, whenever possible, promoting the commercial benefits of keeping them, and by working with government to secure financial support and an easing of some of the regulations. But some breeds are always going to struggle, and in those cases RBST will, by working with breed societies, breeders, farm parks and others, produce conservation plans to do what is necessary to improve their fortunes.

The Vaynol is one of our rarest breeds. Although numbers are increasing, they are still very low.

Accordingly, as the breed society RBST has been working on a project with AB Europe using AI to increase the genetic diversity of the breed. 2020 saw a course of IV flushing and embryo implantation.

It is hoped that this course of action will significantly increase the size of the Vaynol population and help secure it for future generations. Three embryos were collected to be implanted in the Spring with the hope of seeing new calves on the ground in 2021.

Lop project

The long-term British Lop Project continued in 2020.

The project, generously funded by the Gerald Fallowes Trust and carried out in partnership with the British Lop Pig Society, has three aspects. Firstly, we are developing a genomic profile for the breed which will make it possible to test the purity of an individual animal or its products. Secondly we will complete the breed’s inclusion in the Gene Bank.

Finally, we will carry out research into the possibility of storing and subsequently using pig embryos over the long term. This would be ground-breaking research and have enormous implications for the conservation of all the pig breeds.

The sexed Suffolk semen project

The viability of using sexed semen to ensure the birth of female equines was established with the birth of a filly foal to Suffolk mare Ruby in July 2020. This was the first time in the world that the technique has been used to support the survival of a rare breed.

The project, carried out in partnership with leading bovine semen sexing companies Cogent and Sexing Technologies, used specialist equipment to sex sort the semen prior to insemination based on the difference in DNA content between X and Y bearing spermatozoa.

Ruby, the Suffolk Punch mare, was owned by Nottingham Trent University and the semen for the project was taken from

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Equine genetics project
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A foal Eriskay mare Linton Linnet
Vaynol
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the plight of animals such as the Suffolk Punch horse now in a desperate state, it is crucial that the current population is genetically preserved to ensure a genetic bank is available should alternative conservation efforts fail.

Suffolk stallion Holbeache Iggy. The mare and stallion were chosen as a good breeding match using the SPARKS database.

Dr Gareth Starbuck, Head of Animal and Equine Sciences at Nottingham Trent University, said: “The birth of this foal marks a major step towards securing the future of the Suffolk horse and all other rare animal breeds. It has been a pleasure to work with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust to further develop the process of mare and stallion matching amongst rare breeds.”

The Hereford Genomic project

In 2016 RBST and Hereford Herd Book International Ltd (HHBI) commissioned a study to establish whether there was an original population of Hereford Cattle distinct from the main breed. The HHBI provides a herd book for Hereford cattle which have satisfied the Hereford Test for Original Population Parentage (HTOPP). The research was carried out with a view to protecting the breed both commercially through meat provenance testing and genetically via prevention of admixture with external bloodlines.

Eriskay project

RBST’s Eriskay mare Linton Linnet, gifted to the Trust for conservation breeding, gave birth in the summer to a filly foal, sired by Greenland Stud’s Thurlos Mhor.

The Eriskay pony is one of our most critically endangered equines, with only a handful of foals registered in recent years so it was particularly good news that Linnet’s foal is a filly which can potentially go on to be used for conservation breeding in the future.

In essence it states that Hereford OP cattle are distinct from Herefords.

Bagot project

RBST’s network of accredited farm parks are an important conservation resource, well suited to carrying out co-ordinated breeding programmes, as we saw with the Bagot project.

Dairy Shorthorn project

Cattle owned by RBST added hooves to the ground in the Spring by producing healthy calves.

Following a successful breeding programme at Sandwell Farm Park, a group of four nanny goats and a billy, Bemborough Orville, were sent to Mudchute Farm and Park in London, so creating London’s first breeding population.

Original Population Dairy Shorthorn St Arvans Clarisse 30 was purchased in 2019 as part of the RBST cattle campaign. After rearing the calf she was bought with, she was successfully flushed for the Gene Bank and produced eight embryos. She was subsequently AI’d using sexed semen from historic Gene Bank straws from Stockwood Lord Barrington 3rd which has resulted in a heifer calf.

New North Ronaldsay project to be launched

Looking more to the future, one of the projects devised in 2020 to be launched in 2021 focuses on preserving and maintaining the genetics of the North Ronaldsay breed.

Two more heifers were produced by two Dexter cows bred by the late Andrew Sheppy and the Cobthorn Trust. Both calves were sired by Canwell Buster, born in 1966, and represent extremely old genetics for the breed.

The North Ronaldsay is one of the Northern short-tailed primitive group of breeds that also includes the Manx Loaghtan, Soay, Shetland and Icelandic. It is still mainly found on its native island, the northernmost of the Orkneys.

Equine genetics project

When Cleveland Bay stallion Cholderton Boreas died at the age of 22, RBST was approached by his owner Henry Edmunds of the Cholderton Estate with an offer to have some of his genetics preserved in the Gene Bank.

Beginning in the summer of 2021 RBST will carry out a project to update the genetic profile of the original island flock.

On the basis of what that genotyping study shows, RBST will work with the keepers to devise breeding plans to secure the island flock’s long term future and the wider distribution of founder bloodlines across the UK as part of our geographical distribution policy. A report on the project will be presented at the prestigious Orkney International Science Festival in 2022.

The work was made possible by the quick actions of Mr Edmunds, who had Boreas’s testes removed for epididymal sperm extraction. At the same time, a tissue sample was also collected for freezing to be stored by Gemini Genetics, one of the UK’s first animal tissue banks. This preserved DNA acts as a safety net to ensure a species or breed is never lost. With

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Recognition

30 British White

Our Patron

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has been Patron of RBST since 1986 and is passionately supportive of the work carried out by the Trust.

In July 2020, to highlight the important work of RBST-accredited farm parks in the survival of British rare breeds, and to encourage visitors to return HRH The Prince of Wales visited the Cotswold Farm Park. The visit gained widespread attention from press across the UK and as far away as Russia.

RBST launched its Farm Park Project and appointed a dedicated Farm Park Officer at the start of 2020 after receiving a grant from the Prince’s Countryside Fund with the objective to raise the awareness of these vital public attractions which participate in crucial conservation programmes as well as promoting the benefits of native breeds.

Our President

Our President, Jimmy Doherty, continued to do excellent work throughout 2020 promoting RBST and its activities. In February he generously hosted a fundraising event at his Suffolk farm which was much appreciated.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Recognition Recognition and positioning

We took a proactive approach to securing both news and in-depth coverage on selected key issues to achieve frequent, regular and focused coverage throughout the year.

In 2020, RBST developed and delivered a strategic, planned and co-ordinated approach to generating media coverage.

The campaign was based on getting the right messages into the right media titles to reach our targeted audiences. The result was that RBST has been positioned as a serious and successful organisation with a team of conservation experts and as an organisation that does important, scientifically innovative and successful work. The campaign has also highlighted the fact that rare breeds can be a passion, a profitable business – or both at the same time.

The campaign is succeeding not only in achieving substantial coverage for RBST’s key news stories, it has also positioned the Trust as the ‘go-to’ authority on the role of native breeds in today’s world.

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Financial Review

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2020 2019
Operating Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Total
statement funds funds funds
£ £ £ £ £
Income and endowments from:
Grants and Donations 47,520 - 40,193 87,713 143,512
Legacies 241,443 - 2,000 243,443 21,594
Membership Subscriptions (inc Gift Aid) 179,765 - - 179,765 179,850
Charitable Activities 19,950 240 - 20,190 45,597
Advertising Revenue 14,795 - - 14,795 11,695
Investments 89,780 - - 89,780 125,229
Total income and endowments 593,253 240 42,193 635,686 527,477
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 151,490 - - 151,490 195,566
Investment management fees 15,863 - - 15,863 17,701
Charitable activities 323,104 103,344 108,153 534,601 502,623
Other - - - - -
Total expenditure 490,457 103,344 108,153 701,954 715,890
Net gains/(losses) on investments (33,789) - - (33,789) 345,568
Net income/(expenditure) 69,007 (103,104) (65,960) (100,057) 157,155
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Income

Total income in 2020 was £635,686 compared with £527,477 in 2019. The increase was predominantly driven by a £220,000 increase in legacies which offset reductions in grants and donations, charitable activities, and investments.

Legacies are inherently difficult to forecast and have a tendency to be volatile. 2020 saw an increase in legacies which was a reversal of the significant falls in legacy income experienced in 2019.

Membership income in 2020 was broadly in line with 2019 however, this masks the underlying trend of a 3% increase in membership subscriptions in 2020 which was offset by a reduction in gift aid.

Income from charitable activities in 2020 was £20,190 compared with £45,597 in 2019. The decrease was predominantly linked to a reduction in activities due to restrictions imposed during the global pandemic, GAP and conservation grazing training income, along with support group income were down in particular versus 2019.

In line with accounting requirements, we revalue our investments at each year end. In 2020 our investments returned to a net negative movement in funds of £33,789, a swing of £379,357 from the gain of £345,568 experienced in 2019. It must be remembered that this figure is an unrealised loss, and is simply a snap shot of our investments at a point in time which is highly dependant on the markets at that particular moment. Indeed movements such as the vast gain experienced in 2019 should not be expected as standard and our investment performance is considered over a longer period of time.

Expenditure

Expenditure in 2020 totalled £701,954 compared with £715,890 in 2019. The decrease was driven by a combination of a reduction in raising funds and investment management fees.

Overall spend on charitable activities was up 6% in 2020. This was due to the fact RBST continued with projects using restricted and designated funds that were already in place. The reduction in spend on unrestricted charitable activities was driven by a decrease in conservation staff costs due to only having a full team in place for part of the year, further savings were made due to a reduction in travel as the impact of Covid-19 meant staff worked from home.

Support costs were broadly in line with 2019 after having recognised savings in 2019 as a result of lowering the amount spent on consultancy fees, strategic costs and professional fees. Spend on raising funds was reduced as a result of reduction in media spend in 2020 compared with 2019, as a more targeted and effective media strategy was adopted in 2020, as well as a reduction in show spend as RBST was not able to attend any shows due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Whilst overall spend in 2020 reduced by 2%, this followed a reduction in spend of 25% in 2019. It should be noted that 2019 was a year of great change, particularly from a staffing perspective, and for much of 2019 a full staff team was not in place, this was followed by 2020 then being an exceptional year in terms of reduced activity, travel and again a full staff team was not in place for the full year. As was noted in the last annual report, much work has been done to reduce costs over recent years and the Board believed RBST was previously at a level from which further savings would be minimal without damaging the Trust’s ability to maintain a viable operation. This is still the case, hence costs are expected to increase in 2021 and 2022 as a full staff team come into place and ‘normal’ activities begin to resume in regard to travel and shows. However, 2020 has provided opportunities for learning and RBST will maintain diligence in ensuring maximum efficiency in its spending and will take the opportunity to review travel and show spend to maintain savings where appropriate whilst unlocking maximum impact for every pound spent to forward RBST’s objectives.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Financial Review (continued)

Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet remains robust although our net assets have decreased by 3% to £3,214,850 at the end of 2020. Unrestricted and designated funds remain broadly stable but RBST’s restricted funds have reduced due to the decision made to continue with important conservation projects in 2020 using funds already in place. 2020 was a challenging year for fundraising as much was directed to frontline Covid-19 activity. RBST remains committed to seeking funds in all forms and this is an area of focus in 2021.

Overall, the increase in legacies donations has offset the fall in grants and diminished performance in our investments, and the Trust is well positioned to withstand any future turbulence.

Whilst Covid-19 has clearly impacted the 2020 accounts we would like to further reiterate the Trust’s ability to withstand a period of economic turbulence. Furthermore we would like to highlight the vast improvements made to managing the day to day finances of the Trust. An unrestricted surplus of £69,008, in what was an exceptionally challenging year, demonstrates the robust financial controls now in place. The Staff Team and Board are working hard to secure future grants as well as seek out alternative sources of income in 2021. There is no doubt there will be a continued impact of Covid-19 in 2021 and possibly beyond. However, RBST is continuing to work hard to support its members and the animals it seeks to conserve during this time. We remain confident we have the financial strength to survive this period of turmoil and believe we have a clearly demonstrated foundation for further exciting and robust conservation plans has been laid.

~~Reservespolicy~~ 31 December 2020 31 December 2019 % Increase/
(Decrease)
Unrestricted funds(Free Reserves) 840,436 788,238 6.6%
Unrestricted funds(Tangible Fixed Assets) 119,936 135,725 -11.6%
Total Unrestricted funds 960,372 923,963 3.9%
Designated Funds:
- Gene Bank 2,000,000 2,000,000 0.0%
- Conservation – Breed stock 33,559 45,959 -27.0%
- Linga Holm 12,812 12,812 0.0%
- Sandringham Charitable Trust 19,237 19,237 0.0%
- Propertyimprovement fund 132,000 132,000 -
- LopFund 3,751 55,000 -
Restricted Funds:
- Cattle Conservation 1,747 3,461 -49.5%
- Equine Conservation 11,285 17,384 -35.1%
- Goat Conservation 2,659 2,659 0.0%
- PigConservation 11,039 41,387 -73.3%
- SheepConservation 15,125 831 1720.1%
- Otherprojects 11,264 72,854 -84.5%
Ratio of Free Reserves to Annual
OperatingExpenditure		 1.2 years 1.1 years

The charity maintains a large investment portfolio in order to create an income, currently in the region of £90,000, to help fund its charitable activities.

Free reserves are shown in accordance with Charity Commission guidance CC19.

One of the prime objectives of the charity is to ensure the preservation of breeds. Therefore, a Gene Bank is maintained to ensure the characteristics of old and current breeds are conserved. This Gene Bank is treated as a heritage asset, which is irreplaceable. The Trustees have therefore designated £2million to maintain and develop the Gene Bank for the next generation.

The reserves that the Trustees have set aside provide financial stability and the means for the development of our principal activity. The Trustees’ aim is for free reserves to always cover at least the annual operating expenditure.

The Trustees regularly review the amount of reserves that are required to ensure that they are adequate to fulfil our continuing obligations

Investment policy

A medium-risk approach describes the investment policy. Assets are held in the RBST Portfolio which is managed by Smith and Williamson, and which invests in a combination of segregated equities and collective funds. The portfolio targets are initial income yield of 4%; in 2020 it achieved 2.9%, which was acceptable given market conditions. The investment aim is to achieve this income target without detriment to the growth and without incurring unnecessary risk. The value of the RBST portfolio as at 31 December 2020 was £3,051,652 compared with £3,099,220 as at 31 December 2019.

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Governance

Structure

RBST is a charity registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales (Registration No. 269442). It is also a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (Registration No. 01204694). It was founded in 1973. Its objects and powers are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Trustees

The Board of RBST is comprised of unpaid trustees, with no fewer than six elected from its membership and up to five co-opted. The trustees are also the directors of RBST for the purposes of company law. The Board is responsible for setting policy, agreeing strategy and approving major commitments based on advice from senior management, and the appointment of the Chief Executive Officer. Day-to-day operations are delegated by the Board to the Chief Executive Officer, who leads the executive and volunteer teams. RBST’s Memorandum and Articles of Association provide that elected trustees may be appointed for two periods of up to four years at a time and must then take a minimum break of 24 months. The Board has two principal committees: the Conservation and Research Committee and the Finance and Governance Committee. Membership of these committees along with a full list of trustees and staff at the time of writing of this report are provided at the end of this report. The Conservation and Research Committee advises the Board of trustees on strategic issues concerning conservation programmes and related activities. The Finance and Governance Committee is responsible for reviewing RBST’s financial performance and matters relating to management, organisation, governance, investments and risk management. Each new trustee is provided with training and an induction, where s/he learns about the organisation and the role and responsibilities of a trustee. The induction includes a pack containing the Charity Commission guidance ‘The Essential Trustee’; RBST’s governing documents; and the most recent annual report and financial statements. Trustees receive ongoing training, receive charity law updates, and are involved in strategic sessions relating to the operations during the year.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of RBST for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom generally accepted accounting practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards). Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, and the provisions of the Charity’s constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Governance (continued)

Grant making policy

RBST occasionally makes donations or grants, in line with its charitable and strategic objectives, to partners in the RBST network, the outcomes of which are reviewed at regular periods.

Public benefit

In reviewing our charitable objectives and as part of planning our future programme of work, the trustees of RBST have taken account of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and have considered how the planned programme of work will consistently contribute to the Charity’s aims and objectives.

Remuneration policy

Our approach to remuneration across the organisation is designed to ensure we can attract and retain the talented and motivated people we need to deliver our mission.

Fundraising Regulator Statement of Compliance

The charity does not contract with a third party to undertake any fundraising on its behalf. The charity does employ a fundraising officer who initiates campaigns and supports fundraising activities.

The charity only makes fundraising approaches to contacts who have given explicit consent to receive such campaign documentation under GDPR guidelines. We have received no fundraising complaints during the year.

Risk management

The trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and confirm that systems have been established to mitigate those risks. Particular attention has focused on Support Groups, the review of the risk register intended for last year was postponed due to the uncertainties of Covid-19 and is being updated alongside other policies and procedures this year.

Trustees Indemnity

The charity has Trustees’ indemnity insurance in place.

Our employees & volunteers

The delivery of our mission relies on our talented and motivated people, and we are proud of the performance of our staff and volunteers across the UK. The trustees and Chief Executive Officer encourage widespread consultation and exchange of information at all levels of the organisation and we continue to work together on a range of actions to improve employee and volunteer engagement, ensuring that RBST remains a great place to work and volunteer.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The trustees are committed to addressing equality, diversity and inclusion, recognising that doing so helps a board to make better decisions and means RBST is more likely to stay relevant to those it serves and to deliver its public benefit. Trustees will work to recognise and counter any imbalances in power, perspectives or opportunities in RBST, and in the attitudes and behaviour of trustees, staff and volunteers, so helping to make sure RBST achieves its aims.

The trustees’ report was approved by the Board of trustees on xxxxxxxxx and was signed on their behalf by:

Gail Sprake Chairman of the Board of trustees Date: 27th May 2021

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Independent Auditors Report Year Ended 31 December 2020

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2020 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cashflows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility

is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 35, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern,

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Independent Auditors Report (continued)

disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK), we exercise professional judgment and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Geoffrey Cox BA FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Dafferns LLP, Statutory Auditor One Eastwood Binley Business Park Coventry, CV3 2UB Date: 27th May 2021

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Statement of Financial Activities (Including Income and Expenditure Account) Year Ended 31 December 2020

----- Start of picture text -----
2020 2019
Unrestricted Designated Restricted Total Total
funds funds funds
Note £ £ £ £ £
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies 2 468,728 - 42,193 510,921 344,956
Charitable activities 3 19,950 240 - 20,190 45,597
Other trading activities 4 14,795 - - 14,795 11,695
Investments 5 89,780 - - 89,780 125,229
Total income and endowments 593,253 240 42,193 635,686 527,477
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 151,490 - - 151,490 195,566
Investment management fees 15,863 - - 15,863 17,701
Charitable activities 6 323,104 103,344 108,153 534,601 502,623
Total expenditure 490,457 103,344 108,153 701,954 715,890
Net gains/(losses) on investments 15 (33,789) - - (33,789) 345,568
Net income/(expenditure) 69,007 (103,104) (65,960) (100,057) 157,155
Transfers between funds 20 (32,598) 52,095 (19,497) - -
Other recognised gains/(losses):
Gains/(losses) on revaluation of fixed assets 13 - (12,640) - (12,640) 1,800
Net movement in funds 36,409 (63,649) (85,457) (112,697) 158,955
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 20 923,963 2,265,008 138,576 3,327,547 3,168,592
Total funds carried forward 20 960,372 2,201,359 53,119 3,214,850 3,327,547
----- End of picture text -----

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. Activities relating to the Gene Bank are disclosed in note 14.

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Balance sheet

Year Ended 31 December 2020

----- Start of picture text -----
2020 2019
Note £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 13 119,936 135,725
Heritage assets 14 - -
Investments 15 3,051,652 3,099,220
3,171,588 3,234,945
Current assets
Stocks 16 7,860 6,870
Debtors 17 46,969 81,779
Cash at bank and in hand 34,810 54,856
89,639 143,505
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 18 46,377 50,903
Net current assets 43,262 92,602
Net assets 3,214,850 3,327,547
Charity Funds
Unrestricted funds 20 960,372 923,963
Designated funds 20 2,201,359 2,265,008
Restricted funds 20 53,119 138,576
Total charity funds 3,214,850 3,327,547
----- End of picture text -----

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 27th May 2021

Signed on behalf of the Board of trustees

Gail Sprake, Chairman of Trustees,

Alison Pope, Treasurer

The notes on pages 42 to 53 form part of these financial statements

Company registration number: 01204694

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Statement of cash flows Year Ended 31 December 2020

----- Start of picture text -----
2020 2019
£ £
Cash flow from operating activities (116,862) (295,529)
Cash flow from investing activities
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets (6,743) -
Payments to acquire investments (349,068) (6,193)
Receipts from sales of investments 362,847 220,436
Interest received 2,723 14,480
Dividends received 87,057 110,749
Net cash flow from investing activities 96,816 339,472
Net decrease in cash and cash equivalents (20,046) 43,943
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 January 2020 54,856 10,913
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2020 34,810 54,856
Cash and cash equivalents consists of:
Cash at bank and in hand 34,810 54,856
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 December 2020 34,810 54,856
2020 2019
£ £
Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from
operating activities
Net income / (expenditure) for year (112,697) 158,955
Dividends received (87,057) (110,749)
Interest receivable (2,723) (14,480)
Depreciation and impairment of tangible fixed assets 22,532 8,081
(Gains) / losses on investments 33,789 (345,568)
(Increase) / decrease in stock (990) (830)
(Increase) / decrease in debtors 34,809 8,517
Increase / (decrease) in creditors (4,525) 545
Net cash flow from operating activities (116,862) (295,529)
Analysis of changes in net debt
31/12/19 Cashflows 31/12/20
£ £ £
Cash and cash equivalents 54,856 (20,046) 34,810
----- End of picture text -----

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements Year Ended 31 December 2020

1 Summary of significant accounting policies

(a) General information and basis of preparation

Rare Breeds Survival Trust is an incorporated charity registered in England. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the charity. The address of the registered office is Avenue Q, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are:

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £1.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

A network of volunteer support groups is constituted within the Trust and accordingly the accounts include their financial activities.

(b) Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements. The cost of raising and administering such funds is charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

(c) Income recognition

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the income will be received.

Subscriptions are included in the Income and Expenditure Account in the accounting period in which they are received.

This treatment is also adopted for the limited number of subscriptions received from new life members.

For donations to be recognised the charity will have been notified of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the donation and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.

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Donated facilities and donated professional services are recognised in income at their fair value when their economic benefit is probable, it can be measured reliably and the charity has control over the item. Fair value is determined on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity, for example the amount the charity would be willing to pay in the open market for such facilities and services. A corresponding amount is recognised in expenditure.

No amount is included in the financial statements for volunteer time in line with the SORP (FRS 102). Further detail is given in the Trustees’ Annual Report.

For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. At this point income is recognised. On occasion legacies will be notified to the charity for which it is not possible to measure the amount expected to be distributed. On these occasions, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed.

Income from trading activities includes income earned from fundraising events and trading activities to raise funds for the charity. Income is received in exchange for supplying goods and services in order to raise funds and is recognised when entitlement has occurred.

Investment income is earned through holding assets for investment purposes such as shares and property. It includes dividends, interest and rent. Where it is not practicable to identify investment management costs incurred within a scheme with reasonable accuracy the investment income is reported net of these costs. It is included when the amount can be measured reliably. Interest income is recognised using the effective interest method and dividend and rent income is recognised as the charity’s right to receive payment is established.

(d) Expenditure recognition

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. It is categorised under the following headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as an expense against the activity for which expenditure arose.

(e) Support costs allocation

Support costs are those that assist the work of the charity but do not directly represent charitable activities and include office costs, governance costs, and administrative payroll costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. All support costs have been allocated on the basis of number of employees. Fund-raising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities.

The analysis of these costs is included in note 7.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Year Ended 31 December 2020

(f) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost (or deemed cost) or valuation less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Cost includes costs directly attributable to making the asset capable of operating as intended. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset on a systematic basis over its expected useful life as follows:

Leasehold land and buildings Over the period of the lease Office and Computer Equipment 10%-33% according to the nature of the asset Conservation Breeding Stock (agisted) Annual Revaluation

(g) Heritage assets

The Gene Bank is a collection of semen and embryos obtained from rare breeds of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and pigs. It acts as an archive to preserve bloodlines of breeds. Each year additions are made to the archive to ensure that it includes the current characteristics of a breed. The archive is regarded as an irreplaceable resource which cannot be valued with any degree of accuracy and will never be sold. As such it generates no income and so has no realisable value. Therefore it does not have a carrying value in the balance sheet. The costs incurred in maintaining the archive for conservation purposes are written off each year.

(h) Investments

Investments are recognised initially at fair value which is normally the transaction price excluding transaction costs. Subsequently, they are measured at fair value with changes recognised in ‘net gains / (losses) on investments’ in the SoFA if the shares are publicly traded or their fair value can otherwise be measured reliably. Other investments are measured at cost less impairment.

(i) Stocks

Stocks comprise genetic resources, which are not part of the Gene Bank, and goods for resale. Genetic resources are valued at the lower of cost of production and market value. Retail stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

(j) Debtors and creditors receivable / payable within one year

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

(k) Impairment

Assets not measured at fair value are reviewed for any indication that the asset may be impaired at each balance sheet date. If such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset, or the asset’s cash generating unit, is estimated and compared to the carrying amount. Where the carrying amount exceeds its recoverable amount, an impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss unless the asset is carried at a revalued amount where the impairment loss is a revaluation decrease.

(l) Leases

Assets acquired under finance leases are capitalised and depreciated over the shorter of the lease term and the expected useful life of the asset. Minimum lease payments are apportioned between the finance charge and the reduction of the outstanding lease liability using the effective interest method. The related obligations, net of future finance charges, are included in creditors.

Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

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(m) Employee benefits

When employees have rendered service to the charity, short-term employee benefits to which the employees are entitled are recognised at the undiscounted amount expected to be paid in exchange for that service. The charity operates a defined contribution pension plan for the benefit of its employees. Contributions are expensed as they become payable. The Trust agrees to pay a defined contribution into the employee’s own personal pension scheme for eligible employees. The pension charge represents contributions payable by the Trust for the period. The Trust’s liability is limited to the amount of the contribution. The liability for meeting future pension payments rests solely with the employee’s personal pension scheme.

(n) Tax

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

(o) Financial instruments

The Trust enters into only basic financial instrument transactions that result in the recognition of financial assets and liabilities like trade and other amounts receivable and payable and loans to related parties. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

(p) Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity to be able to continue as a going concern.

2 Income from donations and legacies

----- Start of picture text -----
2020 2019
£ £
Grants and donations 87,713 143,512
Legacies 243,443 21,594
Membership Subscriptions (including gift aid) 179,765 179,850
510,921 344,956
----- End of picture text -----

Of the income from donations and legacies of £331,156 (2019 - £165,106), £42,193 (2019 - £117,420) was attributable to restricted, and £288,963 (2019 - £47,686) was attributable to unrestricted funds.

Income from membership subscriptions was attributable entirely to unrestricted funds.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Year Ended 31 December 2020

----- Start of picture text -----
3 Income from charitable activities 2020 2019
£ £
Sale of goods and services (including Support Groups) 20,190 45,597
----- End of picture text -----

Income from charitable activities includes £nil (2019 - £821) in respect of restricted funds and £20,190 (2019 - £44,776) of unrestricted funds.

----- Start of picture text -----
4 Income from other trading activities 2020 2019
£ £
Advertising revenue 14,795 11,695
----- End of picture text -----

Income from other trading activities was attributable to unrestricted funds in both years.

----- Start of picture text -----
5 Income from investments 2020 2019
£ £
Dividends - equities 87,057 110,749
Interest - fixed interest securities 2,723 14,480
89,780 125,229
----- End of picture text -----

Income from investments was attributable to unrestricted funds in both years.

6 Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities

2020 2020 2020 2020
Activities
undertaken
directly		 Grant
funding of
activities		 Support
costs		 Total
£ £ £ £
Conservation Activities (includingSupport Group) 329,736 - 153,929 483,665
ARK Magazine 50,936 - - 50,936
380,672 - 153,929 534,601

£108,153 (2019 - £75,673) of the above costs were attributable to restricted funds. £103,344 (2019 - £2,987) of the above costs were attributable to designated funds. £323,104 (2019 - £423,963) of the above costs were attributable to unrestricted funds.

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7 Allocation of support costs 2020 2020 2020 2020
Raising
funds		 Conservation
Activities		 ARK
Magazine		 Total
£ £ £ £
Governance - 16,234 - 16,234
Management salaries and expenses 21,455 75,091 - 96,546
Offce operational costs and utilities 9,750 34,125 - 43,875
Depreciation 2,199 7,693 - 9,892
Professional charges 2,374 8,308 - 10,682
Irrecoverable VAT 1,783 6,239 - 8,022
Other 1,782 6,239 - 8,021
Total 39,343 153,929 - 193,272

Supports costs, except governance costs, have been allocated based on staff time.

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8 Governance costs 2020 2019
Note £ £
Trustees’ remuneration 11 - -
Trustees’ expenses 11 962 4,433
Cost of Trustees’ meetings and the AGM 1,110 2,338
Auditors’ remuneration 10 5,750 5,250
Legal fees 8,412 11,886
16,234 23,907
9 Net income / (expenditure) for the year 2020 2019
£ £
Net income / (expenditure) is stated after charging / (crediting):
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 9,892 9,881
Operating lease rentals 2,014 2,013
Loss/(gain) on fair value movement of investments 33,789 ( 345,568)
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10 Auditors’ remuneration

The auditors’ remuneration amounts to an audit fee of £5,750 (2019 - £5,250) and other services of £10,682 (2019 - £10,935).

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Year Ended 31 December 2020

11 Trustees’ and key management personnel remuneration and expenses

The trustees neither received nor waived any remuneration during the year (2019: £nil).

The total amount of employee benefits (these benefits include employer’s national insurance and pension costs) received by key management personnel is £155,282 (2019:£80,864). The Trust considers its key management personnel to comprise the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Finance and Operations.

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Six trustees (2019: five) were reimbursed expenses as follows: 2020 2019
£ £
Travel 962 3,729
Subsistence - 91
Accommodation - 613
962 4,433
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12 Staff costs and employee benefits

The average monthly number of employees and full time equivalent (FTE) during the year was as follows:

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2020 2020 2019 2019
Number FTE Number FTE
Raising funds 2 2 2 1
Charitable activities 5 3 4 4
Governance 2 2 3 3
9 7 9 8
The total staff costs and employees’ benefits was as follows: 2020 2019
£ £
Wages and salaries 258,629 252,093
Social security 22,680 25,159
Defined contribution pension costs 11,775 11,711
293,084 288,963
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The number of employees receiving total employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs) of over £60,000 per year was as follows:

year was as follows:
2020 2019
No. No.
£60,001 - £70,000 1 -
£70,001 - £80,000 - 1
£80,001 - £90,000 1 -

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13
Tangible fxed assets Short
Leasehold		 Offce &
Equipment		 Conservation
Breeding
Stock
(Agisted)		 Total
£ £ £ £
Cost or valuation:
At 31 December 2019 221,443 146,249 46,200 413,892
Additions - 6,743 - 6,743
Revaluation - - ( 12,640) ( 12,640)
At 31 December 2020 221,443 152,992 33,560 407,995
Depreciation:
At 31 December 2019 137,385 140,782 - 278,167
Charge for the year 4,440 5,452 - 9,892
At 31 December 2020 141,825 146,234 - 288,059
Net book value:
At 31 December 2020 79,618 6,758 33,560 119,936
At 31 December 2019 84,058 5,467 46,200 135,725

14 Heritage assets

Heritage assets held are The National Archive Gene Bank and no value has been placed on this asset.

These assets are significant to the charity in order to safeguard the future of rare breeds. Expenditure to acquire preserve and develop The National Archive Gene Bank in the year was £125,140 (2019 - £133,659), £52,095 of these ~~costs were attributable to designated funds and £73,045 attributable to restricted funds.~~

~~,~~ ~~.~~ ~~.~~ ~~.~~
~~Fixed asset investments~~ Listed
Investments
£
Cost or valuation
At 31 December 2019 3,099,220
Additions 349,068
Disposals ( 362,847)
Revaluation ( 33,789)
At 31 December 2020 3,051,652
Investments at fair value comprise: 2020 2019
£ £
Equities & unit trusts 2,867,103 2,635,138
Cash within investment portfolio 184,549 86,179
Fixed interest securities - 377,903
3,051,652 3,099,220

15 ~~Fixed asset investments~~

The fair value of listed investments is determined by reference to the mid-market value of the unit trusts or quoted share price.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Year Ended 31 December 2020

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16 Stocks 2020 2019
£ £
Semen for sale 7,860 6,870
17 Debtors 2020 2019
£ £
Trade debtors 4,250 6,702
Amounts owed by support groups 19,316 43,326
Prepayments and accrued income 16,114 27,575
Taxes recoverable 7,289 4,176
46,969 81,779
18 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 2020 2019
£ £
Trade creditors 11,373 19,376
Other tax and social security 7,644 8,685
Other creditors 1,702 2,823
Accruals 25,658 20,019
46,377 50,903
19 Leases
Operating leases – lessee
Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases
are as follows: 2020 2019
£ £
Not later than one year 2,353 2,013
Later than one and not later than five years 9,412 8,052
Later than five years 26,169 28,182
37,934 38,247
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20 Fund reconciliation Balance at
31
December
2019		 Income Expenditure Transfers Gains /
(losses)		 Balance at
31
December
2020
£ £ £ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted 923,963 593,253 ( 490,457) ( 32,598) ( 33,789) 960,372
Designated Funds
Gene Bank 2,000,000 - (52,095) 52,095 - 2,000,000
Conservation – Breed Stock
(Agisted)		 45,959 240 - - (12,640) 33,559
Linga Holm 12,812 - - - - 12,812
Sandringham Charitable Trust 19,237 - - - - 19,237
Property improvement fund 132,000 - - - - 132,000
Lop Fund 55,000 - (51,249) - - 3,751
2,265,008 240 (103,344) 52,095 (12,640) 2,201,359

Unrestricted funds description

Unrestricted funds are those funds available for use, at the discretion of the Trustees, in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds description

The archive Gene Bank is held to maintain the Heritage Assets for the benefit of the next generation.

The Conservation Breeding Stock (Agisted), reserve is the value of RBST rare breed stock on loan to livestock keepers to increase rare breed population numbers.

The Linga Holm Fund derives from the sale of certain assets in 2000. It is available for the conservation of North Ronaldsay sheep in the first instance.

Sandringham Charitable Trust was created from legacies received for the pursuance of conservation projects.

The Property improvement fund relates to the proposed refurbishment of the premises at Stoneleigh Park.

The Lop Fund was created to help support the work in regard to British Lop pigs, along with the donation received from the Gerald Fallowes Discretionary Trust

Restricted funds and Trusts

We are extremely grateful to the charitable trusts and foundations that support our work. Some trusts provide general funding, while others prefer to sponsor specific projects as detailed on page 52.

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Year Ended 31 December 2020

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Balance at Balance at
31 Income Expend Transfers Gains / 31
December -iture (losses) December
2019 2020
Restricted funds £ £ £ £ £ £
Fund Descriptions
Restricted cattle conservation
2019 - Cattle Campaign 2,461 715 (3,156) - - 20
N Bailey Albion Fund 1,000 - (242) (31) - 727
- - -
Vaynol project 1,300 (300) 1,000
Restricted equine conservation
- - - - -
Cleveland bay N Bailey 1,500 1,500
-
Heavy Horse Appeal 2017 13,081 2,944 (7,417) (1,458) 7,150
- - -
Marjorie Coote Animal Charity Trust 4,302 (1,668) 2,634
The Saintbury Trust 1 - - - - 1
Restricted goat conservation
- - - -
Goat Appeal 1,196 1,196
- - - -
John Spedan Lewis Foundation 1,463 1,463
Restricted pig conservation
Gerald Fallowes Discretionary Will Trust (received in 2017) 57 - - - - 57
- - -
Gerald Fallowes Pigs BPA 18,182 (15,600) 2,582
- - - -
Henry Robert Bull Charitable Trust 2,100 2,100
- - -
PG Fallowes Lop Project 14,748 18,900 (33,648)
- - - -
The Saintbury Trust 3,000 3,000
PF Charitable Trust 3,300 - - - - 3,300
Restricted sheep conservation
- - - -
Love a Longwool Appeal 12,579 12,579
Rosie Green Wool Sheep Fund 831 1,715 - - - 2,546
Restricted poultry conservation
Poultry general 291 240 - - - 531
Luton & District Poultry Group 212 - (137) - - 75
- - - -
Turkey Appeal 2016 2,994 (2,994)
Restricted Other projects
Somerset Conservation Fund 2 - - - - 2
Conservation general 395 2,250 (836) (8) - 1,801
North Ronaldsay Dyke Appeal 5,000 50 - - - 5,050
Farm Park - Princes Charities Fund 63,960 - (42,155) (18,000) - 3,805
138,576 42,193 (108,153) (19,497) - 53,119
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21 Analysis of net assets between funds

Unrestricted
funds		 Designated
funds		 Restricted
funds		 Total
£ £ £ £
Fixed assets 970,229 2,201,359 - 3,171,588
Cash and current investments ( 10,450) - 45,260 34,810
Other current assets / liabilities 593 - 7,859 8,452
Total 960,372 2,201,359 53,119 3,214,850

22 Pensions and other post-retirement benefits

Defined contribution pension plans

The charity operates a defined contribution pension plan for its employees. The amount recognised as an expense in the period was £11,775 (2019 - £11,711).

The defined contribution liability is allocated to unrestricted funds being raising funds £734 and conservation activities £1,011.

23 Contingent asset

At 31 December 2020 there was a contingent asset of £120,400 relating to a legacy.

24 Related party transactions

There are no related party transactions during the period (2019-None).

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ANNUAL REPORT & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2020

Leaving a gift in your Will could be the greatest difference you ever make!

Planning for the future

RBST depends heavily on voluntary donations. Without the incredible generosity of our members and supporters, we simply couldn’t continue our vital work in research, conservation and saving rare breeds. We know that with the help of generous donors like you, RBST can continue striving to achieve its crucial goal, to ensure that the genetic diversity represented by our native breeds is safeguarded for many years to come. Our vision is a secure future for each of the UK’s native breeds of livestock to ensure long-term food security, the conservation of important habitats and landscapes and the preservation of the UK’s culture. Help ensure our native farm animals have a secure future and can be enjoyed by generations to come.

What to do?

If you have already made a Will but you are considering including a gift to RBST, your solicitor will advise you on the correct wording to update your Will. You will need to provide your solicitor with our charity details. For your convenience, we have provided this here:

The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG. (Registered Charity no. 269442).

Please also state that you wish to make the gift for the ‘general purposes’ of Rare Breeds Survival Trust.

Our promise

RBST will always respect your privacy. Your information will be handled with the utmost confidentiality and we will never ask the amount of your legacy. We understand and respect that you will want to remember family and friends first when planning for the future, but we hope that once you’ve taken care of your loved ones, you’ll consider leaving a legacy gift in your Will, as a lasting way to support the future of RBST.

No Will yet?

Have you thought about leaving a gift in your Will to RBST? This year we have partnered with Free Wills Month. They bring together a group of well-respected charities to offer members of the public aged 55 and over, giving you the opportunity to support RBST and have a simple Will written or updated for free, by using one of their participating solicitors. The next campaign opens on 1st October 2021, you can register your interest here www.freewillsmonth.org.uk/ and receive an email reminding you that the campaign has started. An up-to-date Will written by a solicitor ensures your wishes are respected. It also avoids difficult decisions and legal complications for your loved ones.

Rare Breeds Survival Trust

If you have any questions, visit our website, call 02476 69551 or email fundraising@rbst.org.uk. Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG Registered Charity Number 269442 (England and Wales)

Corporate Directory

Charity Reference and Administrative Details: As at the date of this report Charity registration number 269442 Company registration number 01204694

Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Patron

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, CD, QSO, PC.

Registered office

Avenue Q, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 2LG

President

Jimmy Doherty

Vice Presidents

Martin Beard (appointed 22 October 2020) Miss Elizabeth Buchanan, C.V.O, FRAgS J Alan C Black The Earl De La Warr, DL (appointed 22 October 2020) Lord Iliffe

Chief Executive Officer

Christopher Price

Trustees

John Atkinson Tom Davis (re-elected 22 October 2020) James Fanshawe (elected 22 October 2020) Kate Green (co-opted 25 February 2021) Catherine Lascelles (elected 22 October 2020) Dameon Layt (Stood down AGM 22 October 2020) Catherine Le Grice-Mack (co-opted 25 February 2021) Sandra Mansell (stood down AGM 22 October 2020) Prof Tim Morris

Ryan Perry Alison Pope Claire Saunders Gail Sprake

Honorary Ambassadors

Peter Hayford, Poultry Nigel Oakley, Heavy Horses Cyrus Todiwala OBE, DL, Chef John Wilkes, North America

Auditor

Dafferns LLP One Eastwood Harry Weston Road Binley Business Park, Binley Coventry, CV3 2UB

Legal advisors

Lodders LLP 10 Elm Court Arden Street Stratford upon Avon Warwickshire, CV37 6PA

Bankers

Barclays Bank, 48/50 The Parade, Leamington Spa CV32 4DD

Investment managers

Smith and Williamson 25 Moorgate London, EC2R 6AY

Conservation and Research Committee

Tom Davis, James Fanshawe, Tim Morris, Ryan Perry, Claire Saunders, John Atkinson, Marcus Bates (British Pig Association - in attendance) In attendance: Christopher Price

Finance and Governance Committee

John Atkinson, Catherine Lascelles, Alison Pope, Gail Sprake In attendance: Christopher Price, Claire McNicol

Staff

Claire McNicol: Director of Finance & Operations and Company Secretary Jo Linforth: Head of Members and Partnerships Tom Blunt: Field Officer Rachel Foley: Customer Services Andrea Parry-Jones: Farm Parks Project Officer Jean Henderson: Conservation Assistant (Part Time) Hilary Young: Customer Services Assistant (Part Time)

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Rare Breeds Survival Trust

rbst.org.uk enquiries@rbst.org.uk 024 7669 6551

Patron: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No.01204694 Registered Charity No.269442

#GoNative

RBST’s Corporate Supporters

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Dengie Crops Ltd NFU Mutual Statkraft Horny Cow
Insurance Group
Farm Innovation Show Peter Hunter Seeds Ltd Foundation for Wulydermy
Dumfries House Water Research
Home Farm Ltd
Old Hall Farm Royal Ulster Sledmere Estate Grimblethorpe Hall Yorkshire Agricultural Wychwood
Woodton Agricultural Society Society Farm
Marsh Christian Dunwood Edge & Son Kelly Turkey South of England Incredible Eggs
Trust Farm Butchers Farms Ltd Agricultural Society Franchise Ltd
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& Glebe Meadow Fishery