Countryside Productivity Scheme Small Grant won’t re-open until early 2019
Despite reporting on its website for the last 6 months that the Small Grant would reopen in the “autumn”, Defra has now announced that the scheme won’t re-open until the New Year. This will be very frustrating for the many farmers who are waiting for the Scheme to re-open, including those who applied last Spring but who could not get their equipment within the 150 day time limit and who withdrew from their grant funding agreement. If this applies to you, please read the guidance on the following webpage and consider whether to ask for your agreement to be reinstated under Option 2 - see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/small-grant-scheme-livestock-handling-items-in-short-supply . The good news is that Defra has committed to further rounds of the Small Grant scheme with £30 million of funding available.
Leader Programmes in Cumbria – final call for farm diversification Expressions of Interest
As reported in last week’s E News, the Leader programmes in Cumbria have put out a final call for Expressions of Interest with a deadline of midday Wed 24th October. If you need help preparing an application, please call us as soon as possible – we have been working on applications for members since Leader announced the call last week, but there is very little time left.
