Defra publishes more information on new grants - updated

Defra has published more information on new grants being made available for farmers to support investment in some key areas. 

Farming Minister Mark Spencer announced at the recent NFU Conference that more than £168 million in grants will be available to farmers this year to ‘drive innovation, support food production, improve animal health and welfare and protect the environment’.

The grants will be delivered through the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP) and Farming Investment Fund (FIF), alongside the Environmental Land Management schemes.

For pig farmers, two useful sets of grants will soon be available under the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund. It has two strands: 

• Productivity and Slurry
• Animal Health and Welfare.

Animal Health and Welfare grants

The Pig Pathway is starting to take shape, with the window for applications for Animal Health and Welfare grants via the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund expected to opening in March. 

These grants, of between £1000 and £25,000, will go towards the cost of items on a list that can be found online, which improve the health and welfare of livestock. 

Defra said it worked closely with farmers, academics and industry groups to compile the list of items.

The list of items for pigs covers Handling and moving pigs, feed and water equipment, pig enrichment, and pig housing, including flooring. 

Defra added that, in time, the offer will be expanded to include match funding for large infrastructure projects to achieve higher levels of animal health and welfare on farms.

• More on these grants, including a link to the full list of items can be found in a Defra blog HERE 

Slurry Management grants

Under the Productivity and Slurry strand of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, the main interest for pig farmers will be in the slurry management grants.

Available grants cover a range of equipment used for slurry management. 

Defra said that applying for these grants should take no longer than 20 minutes.

• More on these grants, including a link to the full list of items can be found in a Defra blog HERE

The grants are competitive, meaning the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will score applications, and if the scheme is oversubscribed, allocate funding to those applications with the highest average score first.

• You can find more information on the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2023 here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/farming-equipment-and-technology-fund-fetf-2023

Update

In its latest blog, Defra provides a useful summary of all the grants on offer for farmers in England in 2023. You can view it HERE