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Referring to the Slurry Infrastructure Grant, Henry Clemons, an associate in rural consultancy at Knight Frank said while invaluable for farming businesses, the application process ‘demands a significant amount of detail, technical expertise and resources that many farmers simply do not possess or cannot afford to divert from their core operations'

With now 102 actions to choose from in the latest Sustainable Farming Incentive announcement, NFU senior countryside adviser Claire Robinson runs through the new options

Figures from April 2024 suggests that the current scheme had provided direct one-to-one support to over 12,000 businesses so far. The FFRF runs until March 2025

CLA senior land use policy adviser Cameron Hughes said: "CLA members I speak to are often surprised at the breadth of options available through the Capital Grants scheme."

Savills senior woodland consultant Luke Hemmings said there were many landowners who were keen to increase their carbon storage and habitat potential of their land, but the ‘approval process' for planting new woodland was an issue

The increase in funding for farm productivity from 40 to 50 per cent, on top of the extra money available for solar panels, means the Improving Productivity Grant is likely to be even more popular among farmers this time around

More than double the funding was on offer in the second round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant. But with dwindling confidence in the dairy sector farmers are cautious about where, when and what to invest in, questioning whether now is the right time to apply

When it comes to the application process, the delivery and the options available to all farmers, there are some inconsistencies, which the industry hopes will be ironed out in the next SFI announcement

The selected projects will now begin their two-year development phase to finalise arrangements

When it comes to SFI uptake, about 6,600 applications have been started but not yet submitted and only 800 agreements are live with farmers delivering on required outcomes