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Invited applicants will have until 28 April 2026 to submit their full application. This applies for both comprehensive and veranda-only projects.

What does it cover?

This grant will be available for housing for laying hens and pullets.

The grant is being administered by the RPA and forms part of Defra’s Animal Health and Welfare Pathway, which aims to deliver the agreed health and welfare priorities for the laying hen sector.

You can apply for funding to replace or upgrade /refurbish existing laying hen or pullet housing – this is referred to as a ‘comprehensive’ project. Or the fund can be used to add a veranda onto existing laying hen or pullet housing, referred to as a ‘veranda-only’ project. Both approaches aim to provide animal health and welfare benefits.

Under FETF there are three funding themes and each had to be applied for separately:

• Improving productivity.
• Slurry management.
• Animal health and welfare.

Applicants were able to apply for any combination of themes or all three for items that best suit their business. The FETF 2025 grants are for a minimum of £1,000 and a maximum of £25,000 for the three themes. FETF is a competitive scheme and, if your application falls below the scoring threshold it will be unsuccessful and the RPA will reject it. As a result, not everyone who applies will be successful.

Grant funding contribution is between 40-50% depending on the theme applied for, and the grant amount listed against each item is the amount the RPA will pay you based on calculations for market averages for each item of equipment or, if you obtain a lower price for the item, the grant contribution will be based on that lower figure.

This competitive grant was split along two themes:

• the first is robotics and automation
• the second will focus on solar energy.

Decisions were communicated to applicants in April 2024.

Capital grants are made available at an intervention rate of 25% for the solar theme, and 50% for the robotics and automation theme.
Revised funding means there is £50m available across the themes.Ìý

Our NFU experts have summarised the details of the scheme. Visit:ÌýImproving Farm Productivity grant – round 2.

More information, including more specific details of the eligibility criteria for certain items, can be found at:Ìý

Defra understands that some farmers who applied for round 1 may want to amend their application to take advantage of the revised offer. The RPA is contacting round 1 applicants with a time-limited opportunity to update their application if they want to include these changes in their project, without having to reapply.

For more information on round 1, visit: Slurry Infrastructure grant Ìý– round 1.

For more information on round 2, visit: Slurry Infrastructure grant – round 2.

This grant can contribute up to 40% of the cost of cattle housing.Ìý

The grant's purpose was to enable farmers in England to access funding, ranging from £15,000 to £500,000, to co-finance cattle infrastructure projects, prioritising new and upgraded calf housing which will improve conditions for livestock and help to boost farmers’ productivity and profitability.

This was a competitive grant awarded by the RPA. It focused on the projects which have the largest beneficial impact on animal health and welfare, however, it also considered innovation and productivity, as well as environmental incomes.

There is no confirmation that Defra will be extending this infrastructure grant to other livestock sectors.

You can find out more by visiting:ÌýCalf Housing for Health and Welfare grant.

Funding was available from between £2,000 to £75,000 per business.ÌýThis will be paid at a 50% intervention rate.

There is £4m funding for this fund. The funding is designed to upgrade existing smaller abattoirs, not necessarily to establish new ones and not directly be connected to NFU members unless they operate one.

More information is available at:Ìý.

This scheme has now closed to new applications, but claims in the system are working their way through the RPA.

The grant can go toward capital items to improve on farm productivity by mitigating water loss and securing water for irrigation use.Ìý

For a full list of available equipment, visit:Ìý

The grant range will be between £35,000 and £500,000 per applicant business and will cover up to 40% of the cost of eligible items.

You can find out more by visiting ourÌýguide to the Water Management Grant page which covers both information about round 2 as well as the earlier round 1.

This is a competitive fund. The RPA will award funding to the strongest applications.

The RPA cannot assess full applications or commit funds to projects that are waiting on planning permission to proceed. In this instance, you will need to send a copy of the planning permission approval together with your full application submission.

You can find out more by visiting ourÌýAdding Value grant page.