A number of grants will be available over the next three years to assist Welsh farmers during the transition to the new Sustainable Farming Scheme (see https://abcbooks.co.uk/new-welsh-schemes/). These are now starting to become available; the ‘Small Grants – Efficiency’ and ‘Small Grants – Environment’ opened for applications on the 18th and 23rd May and will close on the 29th June and 1st July respectively.
Small Grants – Efficiency
Small Grants – Efficiency is a capital scheme designed to help Welsh farmers to improve the technical, financial and environmental performance of their farm businesses. It supports capital investments in equipment and technology and, as in previous schemes, there is a pre-defined list of items available. Each item has a full specification together with the standard value and the grant value. The full list of capital items can be found via https://gov.wales/small-grant-efficiency-list-eligible-capital-items-html. The maximum grant is £12,000 and the minimum is £1,000. The grant provides a 40% contribution against the actual invoiced costs up to the maximum stated in the scheme rules. Applications and claims are all online. The scheme is competitive and applications are scored, each item has a weighting. If successful, contracts must be accepted within 30 days and all items must be purchased and claimed for within 180 days. Further scheme details can be found at https://gov.wales/small-grants-efficiency
Small Grants – Environment
The Small Grants – Environment, is a standalone scheme providing a maximum of £7,500 funding per window for Capital Works Projects. Set lists of Capital Works are available to support the delivery of beneficial environmental outcomes under the following three themes:
- carbon
- water
- landscape and pollinators.
This round of Small Grants – Environment will address the theme of Water. A programme of capital works is available to help Welsh farmers to carry out projects to help improve water quality and reduce the risk of flooding. The Capital Works items will be identified as ‘Main’ and ‘Supportive’ Work(s), which, together, form a ‘Project’. The payment rates for the items can be found via https://gov.wales/small-grants-environment-water-payment-rates-html. The scheme is competitive and each Expression of Interest will be scored. Every land parcel in Wales has been assigned a score for each available activity, these can be viewed via applicant’s RPW online accounts. The highest scoring capital works projects will be selected. Further scheme details can be found at https://gov.wales/small-grants-environment
Timetable
Other funding is becoming available, the table below shows the application windows for each scheme;