The new Farming Investment Fund is now available, this £27 million fund provides grants to farmers, growers and foresters so they can invest in new equipment to enhance productivity. The scheme is broken down into two parts:
1) The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (£2,000 – £25,000)
This new grant has over 120 items available, to include direct drills, livestock handling systems, calving and heat detectors and slurry equipment to name a few. The minimum grant is £2,000 with each items funding listed next to it, for example if you had an item costing £1,000 and the grant was £400 you would need to pay the remaining £600 yourself.
The deadline for application is 7 January 2022 and if successful it will require all items to be brought and installed by 30 September 2022.
- The Farming Transformation Fund (£35,000 – £500,000)
The second part to this grant Water Management is open too, the deadline for this application is 12 January 2021. This aims to provide grants for capital items to improve on farm productivity through more efficient use of water through irrigation and on-farm reservoirs for example. This grant is available at 40% funding, you are required to pay the remaining 60% balance to be funded through private finances such as savings or bank loan.
There are also the following grants which are set to open later this year/early next year, Improving Farm Productivity Grant and Adding Value.
To discuss the various funding schemes available and eligibility please contact your local office.
Abigail Lewis