Support and Funding
Recent
Developments
Support
& Funding
Legislation
& Regulation
Crime
Prevention
Health
& Safety
News
Archive
Warwickshire Rural Hub
Support and Funding
Farming in Protected Landscapes programme for the Cotswolds is extended to 2025
The application window for this grant is open now and remains open until all funds have been allocated. The programme has now been extended until 2025 and been allocated an additional £2 million. Grants are for one-off projects that haven’t started yet and will be completed by 2025. Grants are available for projects that:
- support nature recovery
- mitigate the impacts of climate change
- provide opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage
- protect or improve the quality and character of the landscape or place
Grants can cover capital and revenue costs, up to 100% in exceptional cases. The level of funding offered depends on how much commercial gain a project may provide, in addition to delivering outcomes for climate, nature, people and place. Read more on this page.
RPA announces Grants for Storm Henk waterlogging
Eligible farmers in England who suffered uninsurable damage to their land during Storm Henk will be contacted by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) about a grant to help cover the costs of returning the land to the condition it was in before it flooded. The Farming Recovery Fund supports the cost of reinstating agricultural land which flooded between 2 and 12 January 2024. The payment will be £130 per hectare and the RPA will indicate how many hectares of your land are eligible. The minimum grant available is £500 and the maximum grant available is £25,000. If the RPA writes to you, you are eligible. Read more on this Defra blog post.
Water Restoration Grant is now open
The Water Restoration Fund (WRF) has 2 types of grants, development and delivery awards, to fund projects that restore and improve water and wetland environments such as rivers and their headwaters, canals, lakes and ponds. The development awards are between £75K and £250K and the delivery awards are between £500K and £2 million. The £11 million available is made up of water company fines. Defra is encouraging local groups and farm clusters to work together and consider applying for funding to deliver projects at the catchment scale. Projects will be encouraged to restore and protect habitats using nature-based solutions, improve community access to blue and green spaces, ranging from re-meandering rivers and restoring water-dependent habitats to removing barriers to enable fish natural movement in rivers. The closing date for applications is 7 June 2024. Read more on this Defra blog post.
Defra limits amount of land which can be taken out of production under SFI
New measures limiting the amount of land farmers can take out of productive actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) have been announced today (Monday 25 March). The changes will ensure the scheme continues to support farmers to produce food sustainably alongside improving the environment. Under the changes, SFI applicants will only be able to put 25% of their land into six SFI actions that take land out of direct food production. The actions are:
- Flower-rich grass margins
- Pollen and nectar flower mix
- Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land
- Grassy field corners and blocks
- Improved grassland field corners or blocks out of management
- Winter bird food on improved grassland.
Apply now for animal health and welfare equipment grants
The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024 includes 3 grants to help you buy equipment or technology to improve productivity, manage slurry and improve animal health and welfare. As from 20 March you can apply for a grant for equipment to improve animal health and welfare. The application window will be open until 12 noon on 1 May 2024. The Rural Payments Agency will pay you a grant amount of 50% towards either:
- the average cost of the item – if an item costs you the same or more than the expected average cost in this list
- the actual cost you pay for the item– if an item costs you less than the average cost in this list
Defra developed the list of equipment with farmers, vets and other experts. There are over 130 items on the list and 29 are new for this round. You’ll see a range of items: from mobile cattle handling systems to enclosed piglet creeps to poultry perches. If you’re a livestock farmer, it’s worth taking a look.
Visit this page for further information and for the link to the list of equipment covered by the fund.
Defra summarise all the grants available in 2024
The latest Defra blog post has summarised all of the grants available to farmers and landowners in 2024. For the definitive, up-to-date list of all farming payments and guidance in England, bookmark Funding for Farmers and Land Managers. . The page contains both Defra grants and their ongoing payments. It also includes Countryside Stewardship https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmersgrants and it is updated regularly.
Read how to make your application to SFI as straightforward as possible
When you apply for the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Defra want your experience to be smooth and as flexible as possible. They have therefore written this blog post about what they’re doing to make the process of applying as straightforward as it can be, and the steps that you can take to prepare for your application. You can read the blog post on this page.
Window is now open for transferring reference data for de-linked payments
The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in England is being replaced with delinked payments in 2024. Delinked payments will be paid each year from 2024 to 2027. In November and December 2023, the Rural Payments Agency sent out Delinked Payments Information Statements for customers to check. This showed reference amounts based on the reference data held at that time. RPA will use the reference amount to calculate their delinked payments each year. As from 1 March 2024 until 10 May 2024 customers can transfer some or all of their reference amount to another business in a 12-week transfer period. (The 10 May 2024 deadline will not apply in inheritance cases). You will need full business permissions to either view or transfer reference data. Read more on this Defra blog.
Read the guidance for applying to the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024 includes 3 grants to help you buy equipment or technology to:
- improve productivity
- manage slurry
- improve animal health and welfare
Applications to the fund will open shortly. In the meantime, you can read all the guidance on how to apply to the fund on this page.
Prime Minister announces a range of new support measures at NFU Conference
Speaking on 20 February at the National Farmers’ Union Conference in Birmingham, the Prime Minister and the Environment Secretary announced a range of measures to boost productivity and resilience in the sector, including the largest ever grant offer for farmers in the coming financial year, expected to total £427 million. This includes doubling investment in productivity schemes, bolstering schemes such as the Improving Farming Productivity grant, which provides support for farmers to invest in automation and robotics, as well as solar installations to build on-farm energy security. The Prime Minister also announced a new annual UK-wide Food Security Index to capture and present the data needed to monitor levels of food security, that the Farm to Fork Summit will be held annually, and a £15 million fund to help tackle food waste by enabling farmers to redistribute surplus food that cannot be used commercially at the farm gate. Visit this page to read a Defra blog post on the announcement.
Overview of the actions and payments available under ELMS for tenant farmers
Defra has designed SFI to be as accessible as possible for tenant farmers. They have been working with the Farm Tenancy Forum to gather feedback from stakeholders about how the schemes are working for tenants and landlords. If you’re a tenant farmer, you can apply for SFI. But you must expect to have management control of the land entered into your SFI agreement for its 3-year duration. Read more about about SFI for tenant farmers, and other schemes you can apply for, on this Defra blog post.
Spotlight on ELMS update for livestock and grassland farmers
Livestock and grassland farmers will be able to access around 35 of the 50 new actions which have been added to the Sustainable Farming Incentive offer. There have also been some improvements to the vet visit which is available through the Animal Health and Welfare review. Livestock and grassland farmers will be also be eligible for a number of grants this year, including the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (currently closed for applications), Farming Transformation Fund and the Improving Farm Productivity grant.
To read the whole update from Defra, please visit this page.
Spotlight on new SFI actions for arable and horticulture farmers
In January 2024, up to 50 new actions were announced Read about the new SFI actions available for arable and horticulture farmers in this Defra blog post.
NFU Mutual Bursaries open to post-grad agricultural students in 2024
The annual award provides bursaries to pay up to 75% of course fees for selected students who are undertaking a postgraduate course in agriculture (Masters or PhD) within the UK. The award is open to individuals who have gained, or are expected to gain, a 2:1 or above in agriculture or a related degree, and have been accepted or provisionally accepted on a Masters or PhD course in agriculture in the UK, during the 2024/2025 academic year. There are four topics of interest for eligible students. At least one of these areas must form part of the applicant’s postgraduate course:
- The application of science and innovative technologies to enhance productivity, efficiency, and profitability for UK farming businesses
- Building resilience and safeguarding the physical and mental wellbeing of those living and working in the UK agricultural industry
- Tackling the risks of climate change, whilst maintaining food security, to improve the sustainability of UK agriculture
- Identifying opportunities for supporting nature and biodiversity in the development of farming and land management practices in the UK.
Closing date for applications is 30 June 2024. Please visit this page for full information.
Defra Secretary of State announces upgrade to farming schemes in 2024
On 4 January 2024 the Secretary of State Steve Barclay attended the Oxford Farming Conference and announced an upgrade to farming schemes which focussed on updating prices in the environmental land management schemes and giving farmers more choice of options.
In the speech he announced that:
- average rates for actions in Sustainable Farming Incentive and Countryside Stewardship have increased by 10%. Defra will automatically apply any uplifts to existing agreements where applicable
- around 50 new actions are being added to the Environmental Land Management schemes from summer 2024.
- from this summer farmers will be able to apply for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Sustainable Farming Incentive actions together – through one application. Meaning, farmers will have access to the same actions and can have the same ambition, with less paperwork.
- Defra will consult on improving food labelling to tackle the unfairness created by unclear labelling – including better highlighting imports that do not meet UK welfare standards.
- Defra will be setting out some principles and standards for how everyone across Defra group works with farmers, so they can build trust and ensure changes are made with farmers, not to them.
Read this blog post to learn more about the announcement.
On Friday 26 January at 10.00am, Defra is holding a webinar for farmers. During the session, they’ll go through the actions and payments available through their environmental land management schemes in 2024. Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by the policy lead working on the Sustainable Farming Incentive, Jonathan Marsden. Colleagues from the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will be there to explain the offer and answer your questions. If you can’t make the webinar, a recording will be made available afterwards. Visit this page to book your place on the webinar.
All the guidance on de-linked payments
The Rural Payments Agency is replacing the BPS in England with delinked payments from 2024. The RPA will pay delinked payments annually between 2024 to 2027 and the amount paid will decrease each year, with 2027 being the final year of delinked payments. To receive delinked payments, you must be eligible for BPS payments in 2023 (with some exceptions on inherited land) and have a reference amount. The reference amount will normally be the average BPS payment in the reference period, which is the BPS 2020 to 2022 scheme years. If you did claim in 2023, but did not claim BPS in the reference period, you will only have a reference amount if BPS reference data has been transferred to you.
The RPA has started writing to farmers about the transition from BPS payments to de-linked payments. To read all the guidance on how de-linked payments are calculated, how they affect different types of businesses and how they are treated for tax purposes. please visit this page.
Watch how to apply for an SFI agreement
Defra has produced a video showing farmers how to apply for an SFI agreement. Visit this page on YouTube to watch the video.
Defra set up a new single page for the Sustainable Farming Incentive
A new landing page on the Defra website has been created for farmers who are thinking of or will be applying to the Sustainable Farming Incentive. The page lets you register your interest in SFI, sets out why farmers should apply for an agreement, lists the 23 actions you can apply for, gives feedback from farmers and signposts farmers to other grant funding available. Visit the page on this link.
Most farmers are no longer required to register their interest in the scheme and can now apply directly. All farmers who have a live 2023 agreement before the end of the year will receive an early payment. This is worth 25% of the value of their annual agreement and will be received in the first month of the agreement.
Fully funded training courses in forestry and arboriculture now available
The newly expanded Forestry and Arboriculture Training Fund is now open for applications. Funding covers training costs for short, practical forestry and arboriculture courses. The fund is designed for people seeking to build skills or those considering a change of career into these sectors. Forestry Commission is offering to cover 100% of the costs for eligible training courses, meaning these are free for applicants. Funding will be paid directly to the training provider. Applicants should note that expenses, such as travel are not covered. Funding will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Visit this page to read all about the fund together with the list of eligible courses and training providers.
Updated Defra leaflet explaining the Sustainable Farming Incentive payments available
Defra has updated their Sustainable Farming Incentive leaflet which sets out the key features of the scheme, who is eligible to apply and how to apply. In addition there is a list of the SFI actions and annual payments available. You can download the leaflet below.
A leaflet on the payments available to arable and horticulture farmers is also available below. These include Countryside Stewardship, SFI and Landscape Recovery grants.
Arable and horticultural Leaflet
Would you Like to
Donate to the Hub?
A donation to the Rural Hub of any amount is always gratefully received. However, only donations of over £100 can be acknowledged on our Hub Supporter's page. A donation can be paid by cheque, BACS, standing order or by the Paypal link below. If you would like our bank details please contact the Co-ordinator on info@ruralhub.org.uk
Contact Us
The Warwickshire Rural Hub CIC
Archway Cottage, 2 Church Street, Marton, Rugby CV23 9RL
Email: info@ruralhub.org.uk
Tel: 07780 159291
Company Registration No: 7026157
Registered office: 23 West Bar Street, Banbury, OX16 9SA
Warwickshire Rural Hub CIC Directors
Karen Ellis (Chair)
Amy Brant
Rosemary Collier
Emlyn Evans
Ian Jelley
Henry Lucas
Marion Perrett Pearson
Alexandra Robinson
Environmental Steering Group Members
Zoe Bell (Chair)
Tony Beysens
Meehal Grint, Kings Seeds
Tom Newbery, Highfield Farm
Louis Phipps, Bragborough Estate
Zoe Burrows, Rookery Farm
Disclaimer
The Warwickshire Rural Hub accepts no liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from any action taken in reliance on the information contained on this website.
© 2018 Warwickshire Rural Hub. All rights reserved.