Take advantage of slurry grants, says CAAV
Air and water quality are of increasing concern, with regulation growing ever tighter to prevent pollution – but grants are being offered to help and farmers should take advantage of them.
Nitrate Vulnerable Zone rules now apply across most of the UK, and the loss of phosphate into water has rapidly become a major concern. Livestock producers should expect rules to require six months’ slurry storage – for many that will require significant capital investment.
Defra has already offered support for investment in improved slurry management ahead of a major grant scheme later this year, specifically for covered stores with six months capacity. Scotland is also offering support for covering slurry stores.
If you’re going to be required to do something by law in future, you might as well take advantage of the grants to help pay for it.
So what might this Slurry Investment Grant cover? Although full details are yet to be unveiled, the money is expected to be for new or substantially enlarged or reconstructed stores with an impermeable fixed, flexible or floating cover. Clay lined or earth bank lagoons might also qualify, providing they have leak protection.
Planning permission – where it’s not a fundamental obstacle – is a delay, so the CAAV is urging the Government to give supporting permitted development rights to assist the improvements it is seeking.
Flossy Freeman-Inglis from the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers
