Add Value to your Agricultural Business through Grant Funding

Due to launch in June this year, is the final element of the Farming Investment Grant Fund specifically designed to support business growth, as well as increase and improve production and help businesses reduce their carbon footprint.

Here Jonathan Hird, Chartered Surveyor for H&H Land & Estates, discusses the opportunities available through this new band of support.

“This grant funding is available to agricultural businesses to add value to their arable and horticultural crops, livestock produce and non-food crops which are produced on-farm.

The minimum grant payable is £25,000 with a maximum of £300,000 per business. The funding is 40% of eligible costs, therefore the minimum eligible spend for the business is £62,500.  The remaining 60% of the project costs are required to be paid with money from private sources i.e savings or bank loan.   

The grant funding is split into two stages:

• Stage 1 - check whether you are eligible
• Stage 2 - is a full application process 

Stage 1 which opens in June and will be open for six weeks and goes through some basic questions to check eligibility. If the business is eligible, you will then be invited to make a full application.  

You will not be invited forward to make a full application until after the closing of the initial stage 1, which is likely to be between late July and early August. 

The priority for this grant funding is to increase, improve and introduce new processing capabilities to farm businesses as well as allowing them to grow, shorten supply chains and improve environmental sustainability. Examples of eligible equipment includes equipment for preparing and processing agricultural products for added value of sales, equipment for second stage processing of grain, equipment for processing non-edible agricultural products into new products, equipment for retailing agricultural products and premises for preparation or processing of added value products. Examples of such ventures would be a cheese processing plant to add value to milk and packaging equipment for the end product. However it is important to note that stand alone storage projects are not eligible for the grant. 

The Farming Investment Grant Fund provides a good opportunity for businesses looking to diversify and to increase the value of products produced on the farm. This diversification will then help businesses establish additional and alternative income streams to support and sustain their core farming enterprise as BPS is phased out.

We assist many farmers and agricultural businesses with grant funding advice to help them diversify and improve their enterprises for future generations. For further information on the Farming Investment Grant Fund and how it will be able to help sustain and support your business, please do not hesitate to contact me on 01228 406260.”