Join our user research panel
Good design starts with listening, which is why we are encouraging farmers in England to join Defra’s Farming and Countryside user research panel.
Farming and Countryside Programme
Capital Grants offer now closed for new applications
This is a short post to let you know that we’ve now fully allocated all available funding for the 2025 round of Capital Grants. The next round of funding will be available in 2026.
Update on the farming budget
In this post, we summarise the government's £5 billion investment in farming. We outline how the funding is allocated across the Farming and Countryside Programme. We also highlight recent updates and future plans.
An update on Capital Grants
Posted by:
Sarah Blatchford, Posted on:
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Categories:
Farming and Countryside Programme, Grants, Things we're doing
Following the temporary closure of the Capital Grants scheme in November 2024, we’re pleased to share that we’ve secured sufficient funding for Capital Grants for 2025/26. This means we can now process the 4,040 completed Capital Grants applications that were on hold.
Dartmoor Land Use Management Group: next steps
In October, we appointed the Independent Chair for the Dartmoor Land Use Management Group (DLUMG), Phil Stocker. In this guest post, Phil shares insights into his role, the published terms of reference, and next steps for the group. Update: 28 January 2025: At the bottom of this post, you'll find details of the membership of …
Advancing work on supply chain fairness
Today, Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, announced that the government will advance work on supply chain fairness by using the fair dealing powers in the Agriculture Act 2020. In this post, we provide background and a summary of what you can expect.
Budget 2024: maintaining momentum
As outlined in the Chancellor’s announcement, we have secured a budget of £2.4 billion for the next financial year. This means we can maintain the momentum of our environmental land management (ELM) schemes, which will rise to the highest funding levels ever by 2025/26.
New rules for fair milk contracts: supporting dairy producers
Posted by:
Richard Thompson, Posted on:
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Categories:
Farming and Countryside Programme, Guest post, Supply chain
The Fair Dealings Obligations (Milk) Regulations (FDOM24) set out how milk purchase contracts must operate. FDOM24 is designed to make these contracts fairer and more transparent across the dairy industry. In this guest post, Richard Thompson, the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA) shares an overview of his role and what to look for in your contact.
Capital grants in 2024: an overview
In this post, I'll provide an overview of capital grants for environmental land management, the current offer and recent updates.
Agri-environment schemes work: Natural England’s latest findings
Posted by:
Usha Waygood, Posted on:
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Categories:
environmental land management schemes, Farming and Countryside Programme
This month, Natural England published its annual report summarising projects of the Agri-Environment Scheme Monitoring & Evaluation Programme. In this guest post, Natural England’s Usha Waygood, Senior Officer in the Evidence Directorate, highlights some of the team’s findings from the report.
Related content and links
Talk to us
Next week, you can come and say hello to the team here:
- 2-3 September, 9-12pm, Tavistock auction mart in Devon.
- 6 September, Moreton Show in Gloucestershire.
- 6-7 September, Wolsingham Show in County Durham.
You can find us at these agricultural shows and conferences in 2025.
Get advice
The Farming Advice Service (FAS) provides free, confidential advice to farmers and advisers.
Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) helps farmers in England protect water, air and soil. CSF advisers can provide advice on best practices and specific actions that will benefit your farm business and the environment.
We’ve compiled a list of organisations offering wellbeing support to those in the farming community.
