Farm Funding & Subsidy Income  

I drafted this article a few weeks ago with the angle being little had changed in terms of the agricultural subsidy landscape due to political changes.  However, we have now had the long-awaited announcement that the slurry infrastructure grant opened on 6^th December with the eligibility checker due to close on 31^st January 2023.

The grant will provide part funding (50%) towards the cost of slurry storage and can be used to replace dilapidated stores and increase existing storage to 6 months, based on existing livestock numbers.  There is a minimum claim amount of £25,000 and maximum claim of £250,000.  Farmers who already have 6 months’ storage or do not currently produce slurry are ineligible. 

DEFRA have released a map showing priority areas and if you are interested in increasing your slurry storage, I would recommend taking a look at the website www.gov.uk/government/publications/slurry-infrastructure-grant or getting in touch with a land agent to provide advice.

For managed estates, tenants must be able to demonstrate that they have a tenancy in place for the duration of the grant which is 5 years after the date of final payment.  Addressing consents, investment and the position of the slurry store in the tenancy is important.

Whilst on the matter of landlord and tenant issues, a matter cropping up in quite a number of my recent conversations is the lack of understanding of de-linked payments.  If you are in a position where you are thinking of changing the occupation of land that you own or take, please be mindful that future de-linked BPS payments will only be payable to businesses that have claimed the reference years 2020 – 2022 and a successful 2023 claim must have been submitted.  This has the potential to affect income and decisions should be made between the Landlord and Tenant over the best method to handle the letting for both parties.

Finally, we are hopeful of a further round of the Farm Equipment Technology Fund Equipment grants being released shortly and suggest all interested parties register their interest so as not to miss out.

If we can help in any way, please do give us a call here at Armitstead Barnett.