AF Rural Business Specialist Lauryn Canham summarises the latest opportunities to apply for grant funding.
Capital grants
Defra announced on 3rd July that capital grants have reopened for applications following a temporary pause. With £150 million available for environmental improvements and sustainable food production across England. This includes 4 new capital items to help assess woodland, create a wildfire checklist, repair stone walls and host educational access visits.
The new round will provide 78 items across 6 key areas:
Air quality
Assessment
Water quality
Natural flood management
Improvements
Boundaries, trees and orchards.
There are funding caps for 4 groups:
a £25,000 limit for water quality, air quality and natural flood management
a £35,000 limit for boundaries, trees and orchards.
You can apply for more than one category but can only make 1 successful application per SBI per year.
Get in touch for guidance or to speak to us about drafting your application.
Scotland - New capital grant scheme for equipment and technology
The Scottish Government has announced a £14 million Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) which opens for applications on 14th July.
This offers grants of up to 100% of capital cost on eligible investments to improve business efficiency and sustainability, protect and enhance the environment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or mitigate the effects of climate change. There is no list of items to choose from. Farmers can choose what is appropriate to the business.
Grant limits depend on farm size and priority is given to new entrants, young farmers, tenants and small businesses. Payments are paid up front.
Example items:
Livestock: electronic livestock weighing equipment, electronic identification ear tag readers
Grassland: grassland sward lifters, electric fencing systems for managing grazing
Arable: direct drill, camera-guided inter row sprayer
Water efficiency: irrigation sensors, water harvesting and filtering equipment
Nature: hedge and tree planting, virtual fence (grazing collars)
Climate: slurry store covers, mobile or fixed slurry separators.
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
The SFI scheme reopened for applications on 7th July for a six-week period. Eligible applicants are those who took part in the original SFI pilot scheme, those who reported system issues to the RPA and those who started but did not submit an application between 12th June and 11th March 2025.
Speak to AF Rural Business Specialist Lauryn Canham for guidance on grants that you may be eligible for, or to instruct us to make an application on your behalf.