Under the new Countryside Productivity Scheme, farmers will be able to apply for grants in order to invest in new farming equipment and farm technology.

What is included in the farming grant?

Grants of between £2,500 and £35,000 are available to cover up to 40% of the cost of investment in the following:

  • Improvements to animal productivity and welfare
  • LED lighting systems for livestock housing
  • LED lighting with wavelength control
  • Remote crop sensing
  • Small scale forestry processing and wood harvesting and extraction
  • Slurry management
  • Recycling ammonia and heat emissions

In addition, grants of above £35,000 are available to cover up to 40% of the cost of investment in the following:

  • Small scale forestry processing and wood harvesting and extraction
  • Controlled atmosphere storage
  • Crop robotics
  • Poultry litter drying systems
  • Farm water management through reservoirs and irrigation

Later in 2015 there will also be funding available to help farmers improve their skills, to assist young farmers starting their first business and for specific projects to reduce animal disease, improve the wood fuel supply chain and reduce ammonia emissions on farm.

We await more detail of these later in the year.

When do I apply for a framing grant?

Applications must be submitted between March and June of this year. We expect there to be a lot of competition so only the best applications will be successful.

What should I do now?

If you are considering investing in anything which fits into the above criteria, you may wish to apply for a grant and you will need:

  • Reason for the investment
  • Likely outcome of investment
  • Provide 3 current quotes for the investment

If you are investing in something which will improve animal productivity or welfare, think of measures that can be used to support the investment being made, ie current rate of mastitis/lameness and likely improvement to be made etc.  Get your vet on board and get a letter from them supporting your application.

We have experience of putting together applications for grants such as these, so if you want us to help you do it, or if you just want us to look through your application and see if/how it can be improved, then please give us a call.