In December, we shared details of a new capital grant to support smaller abattoirs in England, offered through the Smaller Abattoir Fund . To recognise the cash flow challenges that many smaller abattoirs face, we’re increasing this support. We’ve raised the intervention rate from 40% to 50% and we’ve increased the maximum grant amount from £60,000 to £75,000.
We want to make it easier for farmers to strengthen their businesses. To that end, several changes to permitted development rights are coming into effect from 21 May.
From today, small groups of farmers in England can apply for a Local Resource Option (LRO) screening study. An LRO is a water resources scheme that improves the resilience or supply of water in a local area. LRO screening studies are one way farmers and growers can better understand their options to improve the supply or resilience of water. In this post, I’ll share the background, explain how the studies work and include links to learn more and apply.
We are pleased to tell you that legislation to protect hedgerows has today been laid in both Houses of Parliament. If approved by Parliament, the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 will put baseline hedgerow management practices into law, providing a consistent approach across all people operating on agricultural land.
Groups of farmers in England can now apply for a grant to improve freshwater habitats. Through the new Water Restoration Fund, local groups can apply for funding to bolster their capacity and capabilities for delivery of on-the-ground projects which improve the water environment. In this post, we'll explain how the fund works.
We want farmers and land managers in England to confidently and securely access payments from both the public and private sector for the environmental benefits and food they produce. In this post, we'll give a summary of our work and the initiatives supporting our ambitions in this space.
On Thursday 29 February, we held a webinar for arable and field horticulture growers in England. In this post, I’ll share the recording and summarise the themes that emerged in the questions and I’ll set out the best ways for you to get answers.
In this post, we share 3 videos from Velcourt 2024 featuring Farming and Countryside Programme Director Janet Hughes. The videos include an update on the agricultural transition, the latest on the farming offer in England and questions from the attendees.
On Friday 26 January, we held a webinar for farmers. During the session, we went through the actions and payments available through our environmental land management schemes in 2024. This post includes a link to the recording.
Tenant farmers are at the heart of the rural economy, managing a third of all farmland in England. To meet our food security and environmental objectives, we must make sure that all farmers, including tenant farmers, can access our schemes and build thriving farm businesses. In this post, we’ll explain how we are continuing to design our schemes with tenant farmers in mind. We’ll provide an update on how we are embedding an understanding of the tenanted sector across Defra. We’ll also summarise the progress we’ve made so far.
On 5 May, we are at North Somerset Show, Bathing Pond Fields, Wraxall, BS48 1NE.
Come and say hello to our team. We’ll be there from 8:30am.
You can also find us at these agricultural shows and conferences in 2025.
