Funding for farmers
You can apply for money to improve the environment while producing high quality food and other products if you’re a farmer, land manager, forester or horticulturist.
Applies to England
Environmental land management funding
You can apply for funding to manage your land in an environmentally sustainable way. This is sometimes referred to as environmental land management.
Producing cleaner water and air
You can apply for money from the Sustainable Farming Incentive from 2022 to help:
- build better storage of water and carbon (arable and horticultural soils standard)
- reduce levels of sediment, nutrients and chemical pollution in water (improved grassland soils standard)
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions (improved grassland soils standard)
- create better biodiversity - this means more types of animals and plants (improved grassland soils standard)
- reduce risk of flooding, erosion and run-off (arable and horticultural soils standard and improved grassland soils standard)
- restore peatlands (moorland and rough grazing standard)
Protecting native species and improving rivers
You can apply for the first round of Landscape Recovery funding to support large, long-term landscape and ecosystem restoration projects. For example:
- restore wilder landscapes
- create and plant woodland
- support peatlands and salt marshes
Defra will select up to 15 projects for project development funding in 2022, and will fund more projects in 2023 and 2024.
Managing habitats, woodlands and flood risk
You can apply for Countryside Stewardship to get paid to look after and improve the environment. For example:
- conserve and restore wildlife habitats
- manage flood risk
- manage woodlands
- reduce widespread water pollution from agriculture
- keep the character of the countryside
- preserve historical features in the landscape
- encourage educational access
You can apply until 2023 (for agreements starting in 2024).
You will be able to apply for Local Nature Recovery funding to get paid for things that help the local environment. For example:
- manage and restore habitats
- plant trees and manage woodlands
- restore peatlands
- use natural flood management techniques
Defra will trial it with land managers from 2023. All eligible applicants can apply from the end of 2024.
If you are already paid by the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS)
You can apply for funding from any of these schemes even if you get paid by the BPS. You will still receive BPS funding but it will decrease every year until 2027.
From 2024, ‘delinked’ payments will replace BPS. This means you will no longer have to farm your land to get paid. Read guidance on delinked payments and how they will be calculated.
Trees, animal health, slurry and protected landscape funding
Trees
You can get paid to plant trees and create woodland through the England Woodland Creation Offer on areas that are at least 1 hectare.
You can apply for tree health funding through the pilot scheme if you manage certain trees or woodlands affected by some pests and diseases in some regions of England.
You can also get help with woodland creation, maintenance, management and tree health.
Animals
You can register and trace multi-species livestock on the Livestock Information Programme.
You can get help reducing the incidence and severity of bovine TB breakouts from the Bovine TB Advisory Service.
The Animal Health and Welfare Pathway provides funding to help improve the health and welfare of animals. You can apply from 2022.
Slurry investment
From Autumn 2022, you will be able to apply for grants to support investment in slurry systems including for slurry stores and store covers. This will be part of the expanded Farming Investment Fund.
Protected landscapes
Farming in protected landscapes funding is open to all farmers and land managers within:
- an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
- a National Park in England
- the Norfolk Broads
Innovation, technology, research and development funding
You can apply for:
- a grant or funding for equipment, technology and infrastructure that improves farm productivity and benefits the environment (through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund)
- money from the Farming Transformation Fund to buy items to increase your farm’s productivity - check if you’re eligible
You can also apply for funding during the early years of the agricultural transition and get free business advice to help you plan for the future..
Research and innovation
The Farming Innovation Programme is made up of 3 funds:
- Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund
- Farming Futures Research and Development Fund - from early 2022
- Projects to Accelerate Adoption Fund
Joining farming
The New Entrant Support Scheme aims to encourage new starters into farming. Defra plans to run a pilot for this scheme from 2022 to 2023.
Leaving farming
The Lump Sum Exit Scheme will help farmers in England who choose to leave farming.
Once you receive a lump sum payment, you will not be eligible for any further BPS payments or delinked payments.
You will also not be eligible to enter into new agreements under the following schemes unless you repay the lump sum first:
- Sustainable Farming Incentive
- some options under Countryside Stewardship
- some options under Local Nature Recovery
Get help with farm funding
You can get help understanding what funding you can apply for from:
You can also get support and advice from:
BPSFuturebusinessFarmingadvisorsResilience Fund to help you plan for the future - thisserviceadvice is free if you get BPS- the Farming Community Network
- farming advisors - you might need to pay for this
Last updated 30 March 2022 + show all updates
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A link to more information about the sustainable farming incentive has been added.
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First published.
Update history
2024-08-05 10:00
Added a section on capital items and link to the new capital items collection page.
2024-07-16 17:41
Removed duplicated ‘Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare grant round 1 (LHHHW)’ information from under ‘Invest in equipment, technology and infrastructure to increase productivity’ header. Added when LHHHW is open and how much funding is available back into the LHHHW info under ‘Improve animal health and welfare’ as this was missing. Also added back ‘Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant’ info as although eligibility checker had closed, it’s still open for invited applicants to make a full application.
2024-06-26 11:00
Laying Hen Housing for Health and Welfare grant (round 1) is open to check if you’re eligible to apply.
2024-06-19 14:00
Updated the improve animal health and welfare section to include details on the ‘Get funding to improve animal health and welfare’ expanded offer.
2024-06-08 00:01
Water Restoration Fund information removed as it is now closed for applications from 7 June 2024 at 11.59pm
2024-05-21 11:25
Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme information is published to find out what’s included in the expanded offer for 2024.
2024-04-09 12:00
Added details of the Water Restoration Fund to the ‘improve water and air quality’ section.
2024-03-22 07:12
Improving Farm Productivity grant eligibility checker closed on 21 March 2024. Updated the delinked payments section.
2024-03-20 09:45
Added opening and closing dates for the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2024 grants.
2024-03-18 11:00
Updated the England Woodland Creation Grant (EWCO) rate in the ‘creating woodland’ section.
2024-03-07 12:44
Added a link to the SFI actions filter tool.
2024-02-20 10:56
Page has been updated to include to more detail on the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) and closure of the Slurry Infrastructure grant (round 2). References to the Farming Transformation Fund (FTF) have been removed. The Farming Transformation Fund grants are now known as Farming Investment Fund (FIF) grants.
2023-12-14 15:57
Guidance for Round 2 of the Improving Farm Productivity grant added for the first stage of the application process that opens in January 2024.
2023-12-05 13:49
The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund opens for the third round of applications on 11 December.
2023-12-01 10:27
The Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant checker has now closed.
2023-11-23 09:56
Slurry Infrastructure grant: round 2 eligibility checker now open.
2023-11-14 09:30
Water Management Grant is now closed.
2023-10-27 08:58
Species Survival Fund closed on 26 October 2023.
2023-10-20 14:30
Added guidance links to closed schemes: Basic Payment Scheme and Lump Sum Exit Scheme for those who have applied.
2023-10-19 10:25
SFI now open to all eligible applicants.
2023-10-12 15:06
Round 2 of the Slurry Infrastructure grant is expected to open in November. Landscape Recovery scheme has closed.
2023-09-08 10:36
Calf Housing for Health and Welfare grant is open to check if you’re eligible to apply.
2023-08-24 15:00
Added 2 woodland grants: Great Northumberland Forest and Forest of Cornwall and a link to the Forestry Commission campaign site.
2023-08-23 12:00
You can now apply for an SFI annual health and welfare review if you’re eligible to do so.
2023-08-15 14:04
Updated the Water Management grant which is at Stage 2 for notified applicants successful at Stage 1.
2023-07-28 08:48
Details of the Calf Housing and Welfare grant published.
2023-07-20 14:54
Update grant value sentence for SFI from ‘between £10 – £989 per hectare, depending on action ‘ to ‘between £10 – £732 per hectare, depending on action’.
2023-07-19 11:57
Content on this page has been restructured to show grants and funding open or opening soon for applications, closing dates and grant value information.
2023-06-21 11:27
Added Sustainable Farming Incentive information for 2023 applications opening later this summer.
2023-05-25 09:49
The information about Landscape Recovery has been updated to reflect the round two focus. A link to the guidance and to apply has also been added.
2023-04-28 16:40
Updated information on the New Entrant Support Scheme.
2023-02-21 09:19
Updated to include current and future funding available to farmers and land managers.
2022-06-07 15:50
Restructured page to make it clearer what funding options are available to farmers, land managers and foresters.
2022-03-30 11:49
A link to more information about the sustainable farming incentive has been added.
2022-03-09 15:29
First published.