Farmers given extra time to apply for stewardship schemes
Farmers have until August 31 to complete and send in their Countryside Stewardship mid-tier application packs to Natural England.
More than 10,000 farmers and managers requested application packs and Natural England recently extended the deadline to August 31 to give them extra time to enter into an agreement in 2019.
Countryside Stewardship can bring benefits to soil and water quality and create habitats for wildlife on farmland and the Government thinks that entering into a CS agreement will be a way for farmers to start changing the way they manage their land ahead of new post-Brexit agricultural policy outside the Common Agricultural Policy.
For the 2018 application window, there are also four new simplified “wildlife offers” for upland, lowland, mixed farm and arable, with a shorter form to fill out and a streamlined selection of options depending on farm type.
Farmers who did not request a CS application pack before the May 31 deadline will not be eligible to apply for the 2019 scheme.
Meanwhile in Wales, farmers and land managers looking to improve the economic and environmental performance of their holdings have another chance to apply for a Farm Business Grant .
The grant provides a 40 per cent contribution towards capital investments in equipment and machinery that have been pre-identified as offering clear and measurable benefits to farm enterprises.
Available over four years, the £40 million funding pot offers grants from a minimum of £3,000 up to a maximum £12,000.
The fifth round of the FBG is scheduled to open on August 6 giving farmers until October 5 to make an application through Rural Payments Wales.
The capital items available through the scheme follow five themes: animal health, performance and genetics, crop management, resource efficiency, energy efficiency and ICT and are specified with standardised costs.
The scheme is discretionary with the amount of grant offered relating to individual circumstances and will always be the minimum amount necessary to allow the investments to go ahead.
Farms may apply in more than one application round but only one grant award will be allowed per farm under this scheme.
All businesses applying for the Farm Business Grant will be required to register their business with Farming Connect in advance of applying and eligibility for the Farm Business Grant requires a partner in the business to attend a ‘Farming for the Future’ event organised by Farming Connect. The individual attending must be registered as a business partner with Farming Connect and Welsh Government Rural Payment Wales.
The business must have a minimum of three hectares of agricultural land or be able to demonstrate 550 standard labour hours, which will be determined at registration with Farming Connect. Businesses with a total turnover exceeding £1m are not eligible the grant.
Arable, beef, dairy, goats, horticulture, pigs, poultry, sheep and apiculture are eligible for support but equine (including grazing horses) and forestry (including woodland-only owners) are NOT eligible for support under FBG.
Farmers can apply until October 5 through RPW Online.
Sarah Wedge, Davis Meade property consultants, Oswestry.
