Countryside Productivity Scheme Small Grants scheme open

Farmers looking to apply to Round Two of the long-awaited Countryside Productivity Small Grants Scheme have eight weeks during which to make an application.

The £15m scheme offers grants of between £3,000 and £12,000 to support farmers in England who want to invest in specific pieces of agricultural equipment.

All the items included in the scheme have been identified as ones that will help farmers achieve improvements in either animal welfare, resource efficiency, nutrient management and technical efficiency.

Items eligible for funding include a range of livestock-handling systems, crushes, calving detectors, weighing equipment, calf feeders, pasture plate meters and low emission slurry application systems.

Arable farmers can apply for funds to help them buy precision-farming equipment, including GPS units, yield-mapping devices, variable rate controllers and direct drills.

There are 26 new items on the list for Round Two which include nitrogen-measuring devices for calculating fertiliser application for crops, GPS light bars, GPS auto steer, cover crop rollers, portable ammonia analyser, vaccination gun, robotic slurry pusher, cameras for monitoring livestock and EID panel readers for sheep and cattle.

The specification of some of the items that were available during Round One have also been updated, so it is important to read the guidance notes.

The closing date for applications is 3 September.

The scheme is likely to be popular – not least because it has a very straightforward online application process – so it is important to act fast.

A priority for anyone considering putting in an application is talk to manufacturers immediately about equipment that you might be seeking to buy with this funding support, to get a sense of lead-in times and payment terms.

The scheme rules state that grant recipients have 150 days from the date of being given a funding agreement to purchase, take delivery and pay for the grant-funded equipment and submit the grant claim.

This proved problematic last time around as the supply and delivery times for some pieces of livestock-handling equipment proved to be longer than this.

However, it is important that applicants do not order any equipment until they have accepted the grant funding agreement.

Defra has said applications will be scored against the criteria set out in the guidance notes and it aims to make grant offers by the end of September.

The application process is broadly similar to Round One of the scheme, but the final claim will need to be supported by photos of the equipment in situ and operational.

Farmers can apply to Round Two of the scheme, even if they were previously successful in applying for a grant in Round One – but only if the total value of both applications will not be more than £12,000.

Defra is developing plans for a third £15 million funding round in 2020, with details to be confirmed later this year.

For more details about the scheme contact a member of the Farming Department.