Farming and Forestry Improvement Scheme February 4, 2014 12:00 am £10 million has been made available under the new round of the Farming and Forestry Improvement Scheme (FFIS). Grants of between £2,500 and £35,000 are available for capital items and the grant rate available is up to 40% in non-upland areas, and up to 50% in the hills. Applications must fall under the following themes ; energy efficiency – e.g. heat exchangers, solar screens, voltage optimisers nutrient management – e.g. slurry injectors, mechanical slurry separation systems, GPS water resource management – e.g. water storage, filtering systemes, rainwater harvesting animal health and welfare – e.g. mobile handling systems, cluster flushing systems forestry – e.g. timber processors, forwarders, tractor mounted forestry grabs. Applications for this competitive scheme must be submitted by 4th April 2014, more information can be found at http://rdpenetwork.defra.gov.uk/funding-sources/farm-and-forestry-improvement-scheme. It is a surprise to us that a further (and final) round of the FFIS has been launched – it appeared that all the funds had been used up in the first two rounds. However, there is likely to be strong competion for the £10m available. If, for the sake of argument, the average grant was £15,000 there would be enough for only 660 sucessful applicants.
