In light of the vast changes to support funding, we appreciate that it’s becoming very tricky to know what environmental schemes are available. In light of this, we have created the following bite-size summary on the current funding opportunities here’s our Agri-Environment Support Update:-
Basic Payment Scheme
The Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) provides financial assistance to the farming industry in the form of a direct subsidy payment based on the amount of land you are actively farming. Farmers can apply once a year – between March and May – and payments are paid in July and December annually.
However, BPS is set to reduce in value from 2021-2027 with no payment to be made from 2028 onwards. In order to simplify the BPS process in the meantime, the RPA have introduced ‘De-Linking’. In essence, this will mean that farmers in England will no longer need to submit a BPS application from 2024 and can still collect a delinked support payment between 2024 – 2027 even if they chose to stop farming altogether. However, it is worth bearing in mind in order to be eligible for ‘De-Linking’ you must have claimed BPS in the reference years of 2020 – 2022.
Countryside Stewardship
In addition to the Basic Payment Scheme, farmers also can also apply for support under Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier. In effect, the scheme provides financial support for farmers to deliver environmental benefits in return for an annual payment over a 5-year period as well as funding for capital works such as fencing, hedgerow laying, roofing and concreting up to a maximum value of £170,000.
This scheme is open for applications for a final time in the summer of 2023 and the deadline for applications will be the end of July 2023 (exact date TBC) with a start date of 1st January 2024.
For more complex applications, there is also an opportunity to apply for a Higher-Tier Countryside Stewardship agreement but it is worth bearing in mind that the initial application submission date is the end of April 2023 (exact date TBC).
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is one of the three legs of Defra’s Environment Land Management (ELM) scheme and in a similar way to Countryside Stewardship aims to help farmers manage land in a way that provides public goods for public money.
At the current time, the SFI scheme is limited to three core standards which are Arable and Horticultural Soils, Improved Grassland Soils, and Moorland with more standards to be introduced in the near future. Each standard has three levels of commitment that a farmer can sign up to – introductory, intermediate, and in time, advanced – with the payment rates increasing accordingly.
SFI agreements will last for three years (rather than five under Countryside Stewardship) and can be amended every 12 months. Payments will be made quarterly to aid cashflow.
There is no minimum or maximum area to be entered into the scheme and land currently under CSS is eligible, so long as the measures implemented do not overlap.
Grants
In addition to the above, there are also a number of other grants to be aware of which are summarised as follows:-
- Standalone Capital Grant – This grant offers funding up to £20,000 in each of the following categories:-
- Water Quality – For items such as concrete yard renewal, roofing and fencing amongst other options.
- Air Quality – For items such as automatic slurry scrapers and low ammonia emission flooring amongst other options.
- Boundary/Tree/Orchard – For items such as hedgerow laying and stone wall restoration amongst other options.
In total, under this scheme you could apply for up to £60,000 of grant funding (if you decided to apply for maximum funding under all of the above categories).
- Slurry Storage Grant – The slurry storage grant will offer grants of between £25,000 and £250,000 for up to 50% of eligible project costs to help replace, build new or expand existing slurry stores to provide six months of storage.
- Farming Equipment & Technology Grant – This grant offers funding between £2,000 and £25,000 in order to improve farm efficiency through items such as livestock handling equipment, arable equipment such as direct drills and front rollers amongst many other items.
- Other Grants – There are also a few other time sensitive smaller grants to be aware of such as the Added Value Grant, Farming in Protected Landscapes and Woodland Creation Grant for example and no doubt more to be introduced in the near future.
