In this post, we’ll give you a summary of the grants to look out for this year.
The information published in this post is correct at the time of publication but please note that blog posts do go out of date. For the definitive, up-to-date list of all farming payments and guidance in England, bookmark Funding for Farmers and Land Managers on GOV.UK. The page contains both our grants and our ongoing payments. It also includes Countryside Stewardship grants and it is updated regularly.
SFI annual health and welfare review
Summary:
Farmers who keep cattle, sheep and pigs can get funding to pay for a vet to visit their farm and carry out a health and welfare review of their livestock. To be eligible to apply, you must have one of the following:
- 11 or more beef cattle
- 11 or more dairy cattle
- 21 or more sheep
- 51 or more pigs
How much you can apply for:
- £684 for a pig review
- £436 for a sheep review
- £522 for a beef cattle review
- £372 for a dairy cattle review
Dates to note:
You can apply now.
Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare
Summary:
The grant will fund laying hen and pullet farmers to refurbish or replace (with new) existing laying hen and pullet housing. This will include specific funding to retrofit verandas onto existing buildings. The grant aims to improve poultry health and welfare and support innovation, productivity and environmental sustainability. Funding will also be available for installing rooftop solar panels on funded housing.
How much you can apply for:
To be confirmed. We’ll publish a post as soon as the guidance for this grant is available.
Dates to note:
The online checker (the first step to apply) will open in spring-summer 2024.
Cattle Housing for Health and Welfare
Summary:
The grant will fund upgrades to housing for cattle aged 6 months+, to improve cattle health and welfare and support innovation, productivity and environmental sustainability.
How much you can apply for:
To be confirmed. We’ll blog as soon as we publish the guidance for the grant.
Dates to note:
The online checker (the first step to apply) will open in autumn 2024.
Grant to improve productivity
Summary:
This grant is offered through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024. It provides smaller value grants towards the cost of a prescribed list of items. This supports the purchase of specific equipment, technology, and small infrastructure investments aimed at making an immediate difference to farm performance, including investments that will help farmers use less inputs, reduce emissions, and cut waste.
How much you can apply for:
You can apply for a grant between £1,000 and £50,000 towards productivity equipment.
Dates to note:
We are planning two more application windows in 2024. We will blog when it is time to apply again.
Grant to improve animal health and welfare
Summary:
This grant is offered through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024. It provides smaller value grants towards the cost of a prescribed list of items. These grants will go towards the cost of items on a list which improve the health and welfare of livestock.
How much you can apply for:
You can apply for a grant between £1,000 and £25,000
Dates to note:
You can apply now. The deadline is 1 May. There are multiple applications windows.
Grant to improve slurry management
Summary:
This grant is offered through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024. It provides smaller value grants towards the cost of a prescribed list of items to help farmers manage their slurry better and reduce pollution of water and air.
How much you can apply for:
You can apply for a grant between £1,000 and £50,000.
Dates to note:
We are planning two more application windows in 2024. We will blog when it is time to apply again.
Improving Farm Productivity grant (round 2)
Summary:
This grant is for innovative farming equipment that increases productivity and improves the environment.
How much you can apply for:
£25,00-£500,000 robotic and automated equipment and systems (50% intervention rate)
£15,000-£100,000 solar equipment (25% intervention rate)
£500,000 is the maximum offer.
Dates to note:
The online checker for Round 2 (the first step to apply) closed on 21 March 2024. Those invited to make a full application have until 30 June 2025.
Slurry Infrastructure grant
Summary:
The Slurry Infrastructure grant is designed to help you improve or expand your slurry storage capacity.
How much you can apply for:
Between £25,000 and £250,000.
Dates to note:
The online checker for Round 2 (the first step to apply) closed on 17 January 2024. There will be another opportunity to apply later this year.
Water management grant
Summary:
This grant is for capital items which improve farm productivity through more efficient use of water for irrigation, and to secure water supplies for crops.
How much you can apply for:
Between £35,000 and £500,000.
Dates to note:
For Round 2, the online checker (the first step to apply) closed on 7 July 2023. Those invited to submit a full application will have until the end of October 2024 to submit their application. Round 3 is expected later this year.
Farming Innovation Programme - Large R&D Partnerships (Round 3)
Summary:
The grant provides funding for businesses to further develop a new farming product or service towards commercialization. Targeted toward growers and foresters in England to take forward ideas that improve productivity, sustainability, resilience and move the sector towards net zero.
How much you can apply for:
A share of £7.8 million.
Dates to note:
The window to submit an application opened on 15 January 2024 and closed on 13 March 2024.
Farming Innovation Programme - Farming Futures R&D - nutrient management
Summary:
These grants provide funding for businesses and researchers to work on longer-term innovation. This competition will focus on nutrient management.
How much you can apply for:
A share of up to £25 million will be delivered across two competition rounds.
Dates to note:
Spring 2024 and autumn 2024.
Farming Innovation Programme Fund: Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT)
Summary:
These grants are focused on providing groups of farmers, growers and foresters in England with support to conduct on-farm experiments and trials. This will allow farmers to drive practical research that is relevant to them as well as providing “pull-through” of new technologies and processes to the practical domain. The funding and support available through ADOPT funding will help de-risk farmers’ participation in research and innovation.
How much you can apply for:
There will be a total of £43 million grant funding available up until 2028/29.
Dates to note:
Coming in summer 2024.
Farming Innovation Programme - Small R&D Partnerships (Round 4)
Summary:
This grant is designed to help businesses to develop a new farming product or service and take it towards commercialisation. This can be used to develop a solution once it works in practice.
How much you can apply for:
A share of £7.8 million.
Dates to note:
Coming in autumn 2024.
Farming Innovation Programme - Feasibility Studies (Round 4)
Summary:
This grant provides funding to test the feasibility of early-stage solutions and to inform decisions on subsequent larger scale R&D projects.
How much you can apply for:
A share of up to £4.8 million.
Dates to note:
Coming in autumn 2024.
Farming Innovation Programme - Farming Futures R&D – Net Zero Farming
Summary:
These grants provide funding for businesses and researchers to work on longer-term innovation. This particular competition will focus on ‘net zero farming’.
How much you can apply for:
A share of up to £12.5 million.
Dates to note:
Coming in autumn 2024.
10 comments
Comment by Rosemary Collingborn posted on
We were waiting for the grant on mattresses in the FEPF - can't believe that Defra have just abolished it.
Could you consider adding it to animal welfare. We are feeling extremely disappointed.
The grants favour very large enterprises.
Comment by The Team posted on
Hi Rosemary,
Thanks for getting in touch. We need to ensure that each item specification works within the confines of the scheme to reliably deliver the intended health and welfare benefits, while excluding inferior products.
We took the decision to remove cow mattresses ahead of FETF 2024 because we have not been able to determine a single specification that would do this, due to the extensive and growing variety of mattress products and materials now available.
We will continue to consider how the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway can best support farmers to upgrade cattle housing to improve comfort and reduce lameness, and whether similar items could be grant funded in the future.
Best wishes,
The Team
Comment by Caroline posted on
Can you apply for an Improving Farm Productivity Grant if you have already applied for an Adding Value grant?
Thank you.
Comment by Craig Smith posted on
I'm worried and disappointed to see no mention of the flood recovery grants promised in January,
Have these been scrapped? Farmers like me are waiting for this help after the EA was largely unable to contain its water and allowed hundreds of not thousands of hectares of crops to be damaged or destroyed by storm Babet and Henk.
These grants were to alleviate the loss of income and from damaged crops and to soil health and are very much needed?
Comment by Charles Parry posted on
Hello I have lost 10,000 of vegetables and lots more can I get any compensation. Cost me £20,000.and no income and to wet to plant anything.
Comment by Sarah Stewart posted on
Hi Charles,
Funding is available for those affected by Storm Henk. This post sets out who could be eligible: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2024/04/09/storm-henk-grants-available-for-affected-farmers/
Other areas in England are being explored for inclusion as part of the Flood Recovery Framework.
Best wishes,
Sarah
Comment by Mathews malivasi posted on
Let me start with congratulating this page,so much more and very interesting. Ive been writing and looking for grant ,but that wasn't be the case and unlucky.im writing from malawi,can you please help me who can help me to acquire a grant in farming.ive a land where I grow crops and animals but very small scale .my land is 168 acres I only use 10 acre but am looking to grow big as much as 100 acres which will be 40 ha.please fo you have such grant?
Rgds mathews
Comment by Sarah Stewart posted on
Hi Mathews,
The grants (and all the payments and policies we talk about on this site) apply to those who farm in England only.
Best wishes,
Sarah
Comment by Marianne McHugh posted on
Thank you for this post: very helpful.
Can you please clarify regarding Animal Health and Welfare items under the FETF - I believe this is open now for applications until 1 May.
Comment by Sarah Stewart posted on
Hi Marianne,
Yes, you're correct. The deadline to apply for an FETF Animal Health and welfare grant is midday 1 May 2024.
The window to apply for the FETF productivity and FETF slurry management grant closed today at noon.
We’re planning 2 more opportunities to apply for productivity, slurry and animal health and welfare grants later this year.
.
Best wishes,
Sarah