Defra has published details of the new
Plan for Water, including information about available funding to support farmers in managing slurry storage and the storage and efficient use of water.
The Slurry Infrastructure Grant’s first round will see almost £34 million become available while guidance and applications for the second round of the Water Management Grant will open later this month. This will offer £10m of grants to develop water management strategies through better irrigation and more on-farm reservoirs.
Around 50% of slurry stores in England are not fit for purpose, according to Defra. TheSlurry Infrastructure Grants will award farmers between £25,000 and £250,000 to build, replace or expand storage and can contribute towards a range of solutions like lagoons, steel and concrete ring tanks and large slurry bags.
The application window for the first round of the grant closed at the end of January and more than 1,200 applications were received, reflecting higher demand than anticipated. Defra said it would need to balance the high demand for grants with the capacity of slurry store suppliers to increase production.
A total of 374 projects have been invited to submit a full application for a share of £33.9 million in funding – up from £13.2 million when the grant was
first announced last year. This is based on an assessment of what the market could handle.
The NPA is already in discussion with Defra over the second round of the Slurry Infrastructure Scheme and is hopeful it will include more opportunities for pig producers.
- You can read more about the first round of Slurry Infrastructure Grants and the next steps HERE
Plan for water
Details in the Plan for Water publication covers the quality of water cleanliness and the quantity of water resources. It aims for every source of pollution to be tackled, including storm overflows, agriculture, plastics, road run-off, chemicals and pesticides, as well as the pressures on supplies following hotter, drier summers and population growth.
Farming minister, Mark Spencer, said: “Communities across the country want to see clean and plentiful water in our rivers and streams, and farmers have a huge role in helping to deliver this.
“We know that farmers want to do the right thing, which is why – as part of today’s Plan for Water – we’re providing even more funding for farmers both to reduce their water pollution from slurry and better manage the water on their farms.”
The funding made available doubles the amount allocated to give free advice to farmers across the country through the Catchment Sensitive Farming scheme and it also accelerates the rollout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Water management funding
The second round of the Water Management Grant will see £10 million in funding made available for farmers to improve farm productivity through more efficient use of water for irrigation, and to secure water supplies for crop irrigation by constructing on-farm reservoirs and adopting best practice irrigation application equipment.
Grants will be available for between £35,000 and £500,000, which will ensure that funding supports farms of all sizes while committing to supporting higher value projects which align with the fund’s objectives.
The grant will be open later in April with an online checker available to help farmers determine their eligibility and likelihood of success.
