The Farming Gear and Know-how Fund (FETF) is ready to re-open within the spring, as a part of a £110 million funding in tools and know-how grants.
The way forward for the FETF scheme was unsure after Defra paused its grant schemes, pending a assessment, amid budgetary constraints, in the direction of the top of final yr.
Defra ministers supplied updates on numerous environmental and grants schemes on the NFU convention.
FETF offers grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 for numerous objects of kit and know-how to help pig well being and welfare, slurry administration and productiveness.
Beneath the following spherical, which will probably be launched within the spring, a complete of £46.7m will probably be accessible, together with £30m for productiveness and slurry and £16.7m for animal well being and welfare grants.
Over the previous three rounds of FETF, £107m has been spent and earlier rounds have proved helpful for pig farmers, together with, for instance, fastened dealing with techniques, digital sow feeders, automated curtain techniques and moveable loading ramps.
The £110m spending will even cowl New Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) grants price greater than £42.5m, together with competitions focussed on unlocking the advantages of precision breeding and supporting the web zero transition.
The third half will probably be a brand new ADOPT fund offering £20m for farmer-led trials that bridge the hole between new applied sciences and their real-world utility, ‘giving farmers the boldness investments in tech will ship the returns they want’.
Pathway increase
Defra additionally introduced that farmers will have the ability to apply for veterinary visits to cowl each eligible species, together with pigs, they’ve from this week, beneath the Animal Well being and Welfare Pathway. At present, farms with a number of species are solely capable of apply for one funded go to.
From summer season they will even have the ability to apply for a go to for each eligible herd or flock of the identical species.
HLS improve
Defra secretary Steve Reed additionally additionally introduced an uplift to Increased Stage Stewardship fee charges, making use of throughout a variety of HLS choices, price £30m in additional funds in complete.
He stated this is able to bolster help for farmers ‘delivering high-quality environmental outcomes to keep up species-rich grasslands, managing our most vital habitats and delivering a variety of high-quality environmental outcomes’.
The standalone ELM Capital Grants scheme will re-open in the summertime, price round £45 million in 2025/26.
The Rural Funds Company is now processing the remaining 4,000 functions held when the scheme paused. These agreements will probably be price £120 million over their lifetime.
Meals safety and rural affairs minister Daniel Zeichner stated: “Investing in innovation and know-how will assist farmers produce meals extra sustainably and profitably, and get the tools they should assist their backside line.”
Nation Land and Enterprise Affiliation (CLA president Victoria Vyvyan stated: “We welcome one other window of the Farming Gear and Know-how Fund (FETF) this spring, and hope the reopening of the capital grants scheme later this yr will assist to revive some confidence within the system after final yr’s frustrations.”
