Update on 2025 Farming Equipment and Technology Fund grants

The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF), which provides grants for machinery, equipment and technology items which will help to cut costs and drive efficiency, opens for applications on 29 May 2025.

Funding is available to farmers in England under three themes – productivity, slurry management and animal health and welfare – with a total of 183 items listed this time around.

There is a choice of 66 options under the productivity theme, 17 under slurry management and 100 under animal health and welfare.

This is fewer items than were available in 2024, with some options having been dropped from the list. The specifications for some have also been updated.

The amount of grant funding available has also dropped to a maximum of £25,000 for each of the three themes.

In 2024, it was possible to apply for up to £50,000 of funding under the productivity and slurry management themes.

Popular items that are eligible for funding include:

• Direct drill (productivity)
• Air drill for establishing cover crops (productivity)
• Inter row companion drills 6m (productivity)
• Cover crop rollers (productivity)
• Robotic silage pusher (productivity)
• Retro-fitted variable rate controller for older seed drills, sprayers and fertiliser spreaders (productivity)
• Rainwater harvesting tanks (productivity)
• Robotic slurry collectors (slurry management)
• Flow rate monitoring equipment (slurry management)
• Low-emission slurry spreaders such as dribble bars (slurry management)
• Piglet creeps (animal health and welfare)
• Mobile cattle and sheep handling systems (animal health and welfare)
• Cooling systems for poultry housing (animal health and welfare)

In total, £46.7 million will be available this round of the scheme of which £30m has been ring-fenced for productivity and slurry management. The remaining £16.7m will support the animal health and welfare theme.

The scheme is competitive with each application received before the deadline of midday on 10 July given a score relating to how much they improve productivity, help the environment, and how widely they are used in the industry. 

Some of the scores attached to each item have also changed from last year.

The funding will be allocated to the highest scoring applications, working down the list until all the money has been spent.

If the scheme is oversubscribed – which is highly possible – then extra points will be awarded to applicants who have not claimed more than a total of £10,000 of productivity and slurry management funding from previous FETF rounds.

Farmers can also increase their application score under the health and welfare theme by 20%, if they can provide evidence that the items have been discussed with a vet. 

The grants should cover about 40-50% of the cost of the item, with the farmer needing to fund the remaining cost.

Read the full list of eligible items available under the productivity theme, slurry management or animal health and welfare. If you would like any more information or help with making an FETF application, please do get in contact.