The North Yorkshire and Cumbria legal practice, McGarry and Co, are holding a free legal Question & Answer session at Leyburn, aimed specifically at older rural people who are worried about the implications of Inheritance Tax on their estates and other legal matters affecting more mature residents. Managing Partner, Michael McGarry, explained, “As a traditional […]

Veronica is getting a few calls from farmers asking whether they need to buy all the items in their Grant Funding Agreement. The answer is YES! The scheme isn’t flexible and you need to purchase all the items you applied for and make sure they meet the equipment specification in the CP Small Grant Handbook. […]

We are getting lots of calls about the 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.  The minimum grant is £20,000 which in most cases means a minimum overall spend of […]

We are getting lots of calls about farm diversification following the recent announcement about the Growth Programme grant.  Farmers wanting to diversify may want to attend two free workshops being held on: Wednesday 27th November: The LDNPA and National Trust have organised a diversification workshop at Nibthwaite Grange Farm, LA12 8BD starting at 10.30am with […]

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 […]