The Sustainable Farming Incentive is the first in a package of environmental land management schemes, which will provide a straightforward way for farmers to receive public money for producing public goods for which there is not already a market. These include cleaner water, cleaner air and carbon reduction.

How the scheme will work in 2022...

Following the Environment Secretary's speech at the CLA Conference outlining his vision for the future of agriculture, a document has been published called Sustainable Farming Incentive – how the scheme will work in 2022.

The new document builds on the information published about the scheme in the Agricultural Transition Plan: June 2021 progress update. It includes a lot of information – including detail on eligibility, applications, payments, the Annual Health and Welfare Review and more. 

It also provides even more information on the standards that will be available from 2022, and how they intend to expand the scheme until the full offer is available in 2025.  

A new long-term funding programme to support farmers, growers, foresters and other businesses to embrace innovative ways to maximise productivity and drive sustainability has opened for applications.

The Farming Innovation Programme, one of the new measures set out in the Government’s Agricultural Transition Plan, will support ambitious projects to transform productivity and enhance environmental sustainability in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors, whilst driving the sectors towards net zero.

In partnership with UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Defra is making £17.5 million available for the first round of the three funds which make up the Programme.

Find out more here.

Farmers will benefit from a £27 million pot to adopt innovative new technology and invest in productivity-boosting equipment as the Farming Investment Fund opens today (Tuesday 16 November).

Farmers, foresters and growers from across England are urged to apply for grants to buy new equipment and infrastructure to help to improve efficiency and help us build back greener.

This could include solar powered electric fences, water treatment systems that use ultraviolet light rather than chemicals and cameras for monitoring livestock.

The fund will be split across two strands. Firstly, the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund will focus on smaller grants for equipment from a set list including electronic seeders and chemical-free disinfection systems.

Secondly, the Farming Transformation Fund will cover more substantial technology, with the potential to transform business performance. This strand will focus initially on water management with grants available to improve water use on farms for things like crops irrigation and constructing on-farm reservoirs.

The deadline for Farming Equipment and Technology Fund is the 7 January 2022 at midday. The application portal, which includes the eligibility checker, for the Farming Transformation Fundis open until the 12 January 2022, with the deadline to complete full applications by 30 June 2022.

The Slurry Investment Scheme is aimed at supporting farmers with the financial investment required to upgrade slurry storage to reduce risk of air and water pollution, and will open for applications later this year. The grant will offer funding towards new and expanded slurry stores for farmers already using slurry systems, ahead of expected legislation to move to a minimum 6 months minimum storage.

The grant is open to dairy, beef and pig producers, who can use the grant towards 50% of project costs to:

• Replace existing stores
• Build additional storage in addition to already compliant stores
• Expand compliant storage e.g. adding another ring to a stee tank.

All grant funded stores must meet regulatory build standards, so you need to be aware of the minimum specifications outlined in the Ciria guidance, with structures that meet British Standards. The stores will also be required to be fitted with an impermeable cover to prevent rainfall adding to stored volume, and to reduce ammonia emissions. If your current store is compliant, you will not be compelled to cover it. However, if you want to use the grant to expand that store, it will need to be covered.

The minimum grant is £25k and the upper cap is £250k, and applications are expected to be competitive so will be evaluated through a 2-step process, with stage one being an Expression of Interest.

Ahead of any grant applications, Defra have indicated that farmers must plan in detail their manure storage, handling and spreading management to demonstrate how investments will reduce pollution risk. New storage should be located carefully, and will ultimately be signed off by the Environment Agency so it would be as well to engage with the EA early in your planning process. Some stores may also need planning permission, so preparation time needs to be taken into account. The first step is to evaluate your current storage requirements and capacity, which you are advised to do using the newly updated AHDB Slurry Wizard tool.