There is 拢150 million on offer for this round of capital grants, with farmers able to apply for a total of 78 items.
Four new items have been added including:
- assessing woodland condition
- creating wildfire management plans
- repairing drystone walls, and
- hosting educational visits.
Defra has also set funding limits on four of the six groups of capital items within this offer. The funding limit for the four groups is:
- 拢25,000 maximum for each of the following three groups: water quality, air quality, and natural flood management.
- 拢35,000 maximum for the group covering boundaries, trees, and orchards.
鈥淭ransparency around the spend of this budget will also be critical, particularly after farmers and growers were left in the lurch last year when this funding ran out and applications suddenly closed.鈥�
NFU Deputy President David Exwood
An application can include items from each of the six groups.
Transparency is critical
NFU Deputy President David Exwood said the NFU is 鈥減leased that this new round of capital grants is finally open and that Defra has honoured the submitted applications made last autumn, with the RPA processing these in recent months鈥�.聽
鈥淲hile the cap on funding may put limits on some farms鈥� environmental ambitions, it鈥檚 important that as many farms as possible are able to access funding to support investment in things like water quality, wildfire management and sustainable food production,鈥� he added.
鈥淢ore detail is still needed on how this offer will be developed. Transparency around the spend of this budget will also be critical, particularly after farmers and growers were left in the lurch last year when this funding ran out and applications suddenly closed. This has to mark the end of the government鈥檚 stop-start approach to environmental delivery.聽
鈥淲e鈥檒l be working closely with Defra to collate farmer feedback to help shape the future of this scheme.鈥�
Next steps
Defra has said that when this round closes, it will look to make further improvements and plans to launch a new round in 2026.
This current round will close when the available funding is committed, with the department adding that it will "aim to give reasonable notice of the scheme closure but that this may not be possible".
A further four items will be added to the offer later this year for:
- accreditation for educational access visits
- installing and maintaining signage
- using tree surgery to hinge a tree into a water course,
- and creating or restoring ponds. 聽
If an application is rejected, withdrawn, or removed, you will be able to start a new one while the round is open.聽
