Defra grants for the agriculture sector in 2023

There are currently multiple grants available to the agriculture sector which can provide much needed assistance with financing projects, equipment expenditure and more. Defra have summarised a roundup of the grants on offer in 2023. This summary will be useful for farmers to identify those that are applicable for their business needs.

Grants available now

Headline/ Fund

More details (extracts)

Dates

Grants for research and development to develop a new technology or service.

The large R&D partnerships projects competition is part of the industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund, which is part of the Farming Innovation Programme.

The large R&D Partnerships competition offers funding for Industrial Research and Experimental Development projects. These range from those that will accelerate the development and demonstration of new agricultural solutions to those that can be integrated into existing agricultural practices.

You can get between £3 million and £5 million and businesses will be expected to provide match funding for the projects.

The competition closes on 19 April 2023.

Grants for equipment to support productivity and slurry management.

This grant is offered through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, part of the Farming Investment Fund.

With farmers and other experts, Defra compiled a list of items which will help improve agricultural sustainability and productivity in horticulture and forestry.

The minimum grant amount is £1,000. The maximum is £25,000.

Available now until 4 April 2023.

Grants to support tree health.

This grant is offered through the Tree Health Pilot scheme.

The tree health pilot tests different ways of slowing the spread of pests and diseases affecting trees in England. [Does not cover trees or woodlands managed in the South West).

Grants are available through the pilot until it ends in 2024.

Grants to fund a yearly vet visit.

The annual health and welfare review is part of the Animal Health and Welfare pathway.

The annual health and welfare review is a funded annual visit from your chosen vet or team of vets. Initially, only farmers who are eligible for the basic payment scheme can register.

You can register for a vet visit now.

Grants to support farming in protected landscapes.

This grant is offered through the farming in protected landscapes programme.

This grant is for farmers and land managers in Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), national parks and the broads.

Grants are available to support:

Nature recovery
Mitigation of the impacts of climate change
Opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage
Protection or improvement of the quality and character of the landscape or place.

You can apply now until March 2025.

Grants to improve boundaries, trees and orchards, water quality, air quality and natural flood management.

Country Stewardship (CS) schemes.

You can apply for standalone capital grants under countryside stewardship (CS) capital grants 2023 to help you improve:

Boundaries, trees and orchards
Water quality
Air quality
Natural flood management.

You can apply for these grants at any time of the year.

Grants to improve environmentally significant sites and woodlands.

Country Stewardship (CS) schemes.

You can apply for CS protection and infrastructure grants, which offer standalone capital grants to:

Improve management of woodlands by making them more accessible by road, allowing timber and other forest products to be moved for easily
Protect permanent crops and trees from beaver activity in eligible catchments.

You can apply for these grants at any time of year.

Grants to improve the management of woodlands.

Country Stewardship (CS) schemes

The CS woodland management plan grant 2023 offers a one-off payment to create a 10-year woodland management plan that complies with the UK forestry standard.

Your plan must be approved by the forestry commission before you can apply for ongoing payments to deliver your plan under CS Higher Tier.

You can apply for this one-off payment at any time of the year.

Grants to improve the health of trees.

Country Stewardship (CS) schemes.

CS Woodland Tree Health Grants offers one-off payments to support:

Restocking woodland after felling due to a tree health issue
Removing trees and rhododendron infected with specific diseases

You can apply for these one-off payments at any time of year.

Grants coming later this year:

Headline/ Fund	More details (extracts)	Dates
Grants to support animal health and welfare. Part of the Animal Health and Welfare pathway.	Several grants will be available to support farmers to achieve higher levels of animal health and welfare, by co-funding investments in equipment, technology and transformational infrastructure projects. Specific grants for: Grants for equipment and technology Grants to support cattle housing Grants for other infrastructure projects	1. This grant will be available in March 2023 2. It will be available in summer 2023 3. This grant will be available later this year.
Grants to support slurry infrastructure	The Slurry Infrastructure grant is designed to help you improve or expand your slurry storage capacity.	Defra plan to open another round later this year
Grants to support water management These grants will be offered through the Farming Investment Fund.	Water Management grants will be available for capital items to support the construction of on-farm reservoirs and the adoption of best practice irrigation application equipment.	Grants will be available in spring 2023.
Grants to work on long-term farming innovation. The farming futures research and development competition is part of the Farming Innovation Programme.	Each competition has a different theme. Defra will share the next theme as soon as they can. Previous competition themes were ‘climate smart farming’ which aimed to reduce carbon emissions and ‘sustainable farm-based proteins’ which aimed to improve the sustainability of protein sources.	The competition will open in May 2023
Grants for research and development, to develop a new technology or service. The small research and development partnerships competition is part of the Farming Innovation Programme.	The aim of this competition is to fund industrial research studies developing new solutions that will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities. Businesses within a supply chain are encouraged to come together as a partnership to solve major challenges or opportunities. Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England. Your project’s total costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.	The competition will open in August.
Grants for research and development to check if an innovative idea works in practice. The feasibility studies competition is part of the Farming Innovation Programme.	If you’ve been researching an idea that could improve farming, you can apply for funding to check if it will work in practice. You’ll need to be a business registered in the UK to lead on a ‘Feasibility Studies’ project. Research organisations, farmers and growers, and other businesses can collaborate as part of the project team to successfully deliver these projects. The total project costs are between £200,000 and £500,000.	This competition will open in September 2023.
Grants to run on-farm trials assessing the viability of new technology, processes and practices. This grant is offered through the Farming Innovation Programme.	These grants will support farmers, growers and foresters to lead and deliver smaller-scale, on-farm trials to test potential solutions to practical problems and therefore improve productivity and sustainability. This might include using existing equipment, processes and practices in novel ways or testing innovative ideas and technology.	This grant will be available in autumn 2023.

For more details and links to further information visit https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2023/03/02/grants-available-in-2023/

Stay informed

As someone who has a number of clients who may be eligible for the grants administered through the schemes mentioned above, I have found the regular updates issued through Defra very useful and would recommend any relevant business to: