Defra has announced the Animal Health & Welfare Grants are now available to apply for. These are being offered as part of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) and represent the next step on the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway. Grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 are available towards the cost of items that have been pre-identified to improve the health and welfare of livestock and which also improve productivity together with bringing environmental benefits to the business. A list of the items and the amount of grant available (circa 40%) can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/farming-equipment-and-technology-fund-fetf-2023/annex-4-fetf-2023-animal-health-and-welfare-eligible-items. Regardless of the price an applicant pays for the item, they will receive the grant indicated on the list.
The list contains over 100 items, many of which are new for this round and have been included following co-design of the scheme. In particular, support for broilers and egg layers is now available for the first time. This round will be open for 12 weeks, closing midday on 15th June. Animal Health and Welfare grants will be offered every year throughout the Agricultural Transition. Information on further rounds will be made available in the summer. Whether there is another round in 2023 will depend on uptake under this round.
The scheme is competitive and to be eligible for funding, equipment must not be purchased until an agreement has been received from Defra. If successful, all items must be paid for and installed before a claim for grant is made, and ahead of the claim submission deadline which will be included on the agreement offer. Applications can only be made via an online portal this can be found at https://ahw.fetf.org.uk/
Full guidance is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/farming-equipment-and-technology-fund-fetf-2023/about-the-farming-equipment-and-technology-fund-fetf-2023
A reminder that the Productivity and Slurry theme of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund closes midday on 4th April (see Bulletin article https://abcbooks.co.uk/productivity-slurry-grants/).