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Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2024 Guidance NOW AVAILABLE

DEFRA have now published their guidance on applying for the 2024 Farming Equipment and Technology Fund and the application window will open shortly. 

About the Fund 

The Fund provides grants for equipment and technology that supports improvements in: 

Productivity Slurry Management Animal Health and Welfare 

This is a competitive grant, and you can apply for one grant for equipment under one of the three themes above. 

Successful applicants will receive a grant of: 

A minimum of £1000 and a maximum of £50,000 towards productivity items (increase from last year)A minimum of £1000 and a maximum of £50,000 towards slurry items (i… Read More
Fields

Improving Farm Productivity Grant: APPLY NOW

Further to our previous update about the upcoming Improving Farm Productivity Grant, the application window is now open for both robotic and automated equipment and solar equipment.

Details of this grant scheme can be found here. Improving Farm Productivity grant Round 2: applicant guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

UPDATE:  DEFRA have decided to increase the proportion of the costs that the grant will cover, to 50% rather than 40% for robotic and automated equipment. Meaning the grant will cover more of the total project costs, than it did in Round 1. 

Payment of costs for solar equipment will remain the same at 25%. 

GRANT OVERVI…

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Changes to waste exemption licenses in Agriculture

Changes to Waste Exemption Licenses in Agriculture

What we know so far: 

At present, there is no need for waste exemption documents and record keeping to be maintained such as evidence of quantities etc, ONLY waste transfer notes. However, this may change. Exemptions are no longer allowed on permitted sites Limits are now imposed on the number of exemptions applicable to one site – this is to avoid operation of a permitted site without the required PP and regulation 

Key changes for farmers to be aware of: 

U1 – Use of waste in construction 

Change in waste types and quantities Wood waste will be restricted to plant tissue only 

*There will be a 1…

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Somerset & Avon Dairy Group Logo

Don't forget: Somerset & Avon Dairy Group meeting - this Wednesday!

Join us at Keynsham Rugby Club on Wednesday 17th January, to help build and discuss a new collaborative venture in addition to a bite to eat. 

In this meeting you will learn what the group is, how collaboration will benefit you and make your farm business more resilient, but more importantly – what members of the group will receive, including: 

Infrastructure reviews Environmental auditing Natural Capital Baselining And Cross Farm Collaboration

The services provided are initially supported and funded by the Future Farming Resilience Fund.  

This is a chance for farmers across the county to meet like-minded individuals, collaborate and learn abo…

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Tractor

DEFRA January Update

Yesterday, DEFRA announced their latest publication regarding the Agricultural Transition Plan – this provides an update on DEFRA progress to date and their priorities and plans for the upcoming years. 

To support productivity, innovation and encourage more farmers to get involved with their schemes that work with food production and environmental targets, DEFRA are aiming to make their schemes and regulation more attractive, fair and workable. 

To help achieve this, DEFRA’s plans for 2024 include: 

1.An average 10% increase in payment rates for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS) to r…

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Solar Panels

Improving Farm Productivity Grants: Round 2

Did you miss out on the first round of the Improving Farm Productivity Grant? 

DEFRA has recently announced that the second round will soon be available to apply for, in the coming weeks ahead. 

The Improving Farm Productivity Grant is part of the Farming Investment Fund and is available to agricultural and arable businesses to support farmers in improving farm and horticulture productivity, providing grant funding towards specific capital items. 

Funded improvements will relate to: 

The use of robotic and automated equipment and systems to aid crop and livestock productionSolar equipment installation to increase energy resilience and the take-up of r… Read More
Cow

Have you heard?

From 2024 the basic payment scheme will no longer be directly linked to holding eligible land and entitlements, instead payments will be based on an average of your historic payments during the reference years with the degressive percentages applied each year.

Every BPS recipient should receive a Delinked Payment statement by early December. Statements will be sent out in batches from early November. 

These statements will show the ‘reference data’ which will be used to calculate your payments from 2024 – 2027. 

The reference data being the BPS payments you received between: 2020-2022. 

It is important you check…

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Still unsure whether to apply for the SFI?

FREE WEBINAR: ' Making the SFI work for your farming business'

'Making the SFI work for your farming business'

FREE WEBINAR:

Thursday 23rd November 2023 at 10am

Are you considering applying for a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Agreement? Do you want to know how to make the SFI work for your farm business?

AKC are pleased to be working with Landmark Systems, to provide you a free webinar which will give you all the information you need to make and manage an SFI application. 

The webinar will cover:

A technical update on the SFI 2023 offerWhat to consider before applying for the SFI… Read More
Slurry Infrastructure Grant Round 2

Slurry Infrastructure Grant - Round 2 Now Available

DEFRA have announced they are going to launch the next round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant in November. For full guidance on the new round click here. 

A webinar about the scheme will also be hosted by DEFRA on the 9th November 2023, to allow you to ask questions and discover more about round 2 of the grant. To attend this, please register here. 

About Round 2 

To help improve the use of organic nutrients on your farm and aid productivity and reduce pollution, DEFRA are offering grants between £25,000 and £250,000 to help improve your slurry storage. 

Since the first round, five new improvements have been made to the grant to encourage additio…

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Calves

Calf Housing for Health and Welfare Grant – Open - 7th September 2023

The Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant is designed to increase the health and welfare of calves (up to 6 months old) through upgrading, building new or replacing existing calf housing buildings.

Grant funded housing must provide a good ambient environment, appropriate group housing, good air quality, temperature, and humidity within the building, allowing calves to grow effectively and minimise health issues within the group.

Successful projects are those that:

Improve calf health and welfare … Read More
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