New round of Farming Equipment and Technology Fund opens soon

The next round of Defra’s Farming Equipment and Technology Fund is due to open later this month, with grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 available for farm businesses.

Grants available are intended to help purchase equipment that will enhance environmental sustainability, increase productivity, and improve animal health and welfare.

During an earlier round of funding, successful applicants typically received a grant of about 44% of the total cost of purchasing new equipment.

See also: Defra adds six new standards to SFI scheme for 2023

The first theme of the fund will cover productivity and slurry and is due to open later in February, while a second part of the fund will open in March, focusing on animal health and welfare.

Farmers, foresters, growers, and agricultural contractors in England may all be eligible for grants using the fund.

Productivity and Slurry grant

This grant is designed to reduce the number of inputs needed by farmers, while also reducing emissions and minimising waste.

The items included under this grant should improve sustainability and productivity on farm, help farmers use less inputs, reduce emissions, and cut waste.

Some of the items available include feed troughs, direct drills, and robotic slurry pushers. A further 21 items relating to aiding productivity and slurry management have been added since the last round.

Animal Health and Welfare grant

Since the first round, an additional 66 items have been added to support animal health and welfare, reduce environmental stress, and improve biosecurity.

Mobile cattle handling systems, fencing, lamb creep feeders, and cameras for monitoring livestock are all included under the funding.

Full guidance on the items available for both grants can be found on the Defra website.

Oversubscribed

The first round of the project was reportedly significantly oversubscribed, and farm businesses that were previously unsuccessful are being encouraged to reapply.

Sarah Evered, head of the productivity and innovation policy team at Defra, said: “Each item has a score assigned to it based on our assessment of how well it meets the objectives of the scheme.

“If the scheme is oversubscribed, we will allocate funding to those items with the highest score first.”

Ms Evered said if your application is successful, you can then buy the item and you will be able to claim the reimbursement using your receipt.