We are still offering free farm business reviews funded by the Cumbria Growth Catalyst programme but have now been given permission to also use these visits to help farmers prepare Expression of Interests to apply to the Growth Programme.  The farm business review includes information about the proposals in the Agriculture Bill, analysis of the […]

RURAL GROWTH PROGRAMME GRANTS NOW AVAILABLE – DEADLINE 16TH FEB 2020 Last Friday, Defra announced another round of its Growth Programme which provides grants for small rural businesses to create jobs and growth in the rural economy.  Examples of eligible projects include farm diversification, food processing and development of tourism infrastructure.   There is a […]

  BASIC PAYMENT SCHEME RATES 2019 ENGLISH REGION ENTITLEMENT VALUES GREENING RATES Non-SDA £162.77 £70.11 Upland SDA, other than moorland £161.56 £69.59 Upland SDA moorland £44.33 £19.09 The exchange rate used to convert the payments from Euros to £ sterling is €1 = £0.89092.   Payments will start in December.  Details of the announcement are […]

This week, the Rural Payments Agency has been issuing Countryside Productivity Small Grant Scheme offers.  These have been sent out by e mail (not by letter) and you have until 10th November to accept the offer using the online CPSG acceptance portal.  We believe all the offers have gone out at the same time so, if […]

The Government has just announced another round of its Growth Programme which provides grants for small rural businesses to create jobs and growth in the rural economy.  Examples of eligible projects have in the past included farm diversification, food processing and tourism developments. Last time the scheme was open, the grants were of up to […]

 The Government has announced plans for a new agricultural policy to deliver an improved environment in England once the UK leaves the European Union and the Common Agricultural Policy. The cornerstone of this is the development of a new Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, which will be underpinned by the payment of public money for public goods. ELM is intended to provide a powerful […]

The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has guides for each farming sector on post Brexit prospects for trade and the impact of a No Deal Brexit.  They also have a Brexit impact calculator, webinars and podcasts with Brexit analysis and advice:  https://ahdb.org.uk/brexit. Defra has advice to farmers on the implications of a possible No Deal […]

If you abstract more than 20m3 per of water/ day and were previously exempt from the need for an abstraction licence, you need to apply for a licence from the Environment Agency now as these exemptions cease on 1st January 2020. Previously exempt activities now requiring a licence include all forms of irrigation (including trickle […]

Tuesday 8th October 7.30 pm at The Bridge Inn, Grinton, DL11 6HH The Farmer Network and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Farm Team invite you to an informal workshop to go over the detail of DEFRA’s Flood Recovery grant.  Supper is provided so please book.  Contact Carol Moffat Phone – 015396 21602, Text – […]

Morrisons have opened up apprenticeship transfer levy funds to support British farmers of the future. This is an exciting opportunity for young farmers to gain financial support to fund their studies. As long as they are aged 19 or over, embarking on an apprenticeship course, and working on a farm alongside their studies, they are […]

This has been confirmed as €1 = £0.89092 which is a slightly less favourable exchange rate than in 2018 but still relatively good compared with before the 2016 referendum.  The continued weakness of the pound makes imports more expensive (eg feed) but does increase the value of BPS which is set in euros.

We are getting calls from farmers asking when they might hear whether their CP Small Grant scheme application has been approved (or not). We are not aware of any farmers having received offers of grant as yet.  With the first round of the scheme in 2018, it took 5 to 6 weeks for the applications […]