The RPA intends to make two payments per year, every year during the delinked payment process. In 2024, the first payment will be made from 1 August and the second payment will be made from 30 September.
This means that for 2024 only there will not be a December payment.
After each payment there will be a payment statement provided, however, the first statement may arrive slightly later in August or even September.
It is important to note that you should not contact the RPA until after you have received your payment statement.
Statements will be available online for 18 months and can be downloaded at any time during this period. If you cannot download a statement within this time period, you can contact the RPA to have another statement issued.
These statements will be emailed to the business, however where an email attempt fails and for businesses without an email, a statement will be sent through the post.
Remittance advice will also be being posted to the registered business in line with each payment instalment. This advice will show the scheme year and the amount being paid.
As these are new payments, you can find more information about the delinked payment process on NFUonline, as well as dedicated fraud awareness information.
The RPA also has guidance on fraud prevention; please familiarise yourself with this for your own financial security.
Funding remains available for new SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive) agreements under the ‘expanded offer’ with 102 actions now available to choose from.
The expanded SFI offer now includes 57 further actions that were in CS (Countryside Stewardship). Of these, only eight still have a five-year term, the rest have been updated to three years in order to match the rest of the SFI actions.
There are also 23 new actions covering precision farming, agro-forestry and stone walls. It is also worth remembering that 10 of the SFI actions continue to have a 25% restriction of the farm’s total area, while another four are being considered for this restriction.
There is also an opportunity for non-BPS claimants to now access SFI due to the removal of BPS eligibility as an entry criteria, allowing even more applicants to take advantage of the offer.
You can watch a recording of a recent NFU event which provided an update on the changing landscape of SFI for more information.
Meanwhile, there is information available about the potential for stacking actions within SFI at: AHDB.ORG | Stacking options for SFI.
Elsewhere, for CS, the final claim deadline for 2024 is 2 September 2024. This is the final date for applications to be submitted. The later an application is received by the RPA, the larger the penalty, so it is worth submitting as soon as possible.
Stay up to date with our dedicated CS page.
For those involved in FiPL (Farming in Protected Landscapes) it is worth remembering that projects must be completed by March 2025. The programme aims to support those farming in Protected Landscapes to achieve any of the following objectives:
- supporting nature recovery
- mitigating against the impacts of climate change
- providing opportunities for people to discover, enjoy and understand the landscape and its cultural heritage, and
- protecting or improving the quality and character of the landscape or place.
The animal health and welfare pathway continues to be developed, with an additional option for a farm visit focusing on endemic disease support.
This new option would be available alongside the existing animal health and welfare review providing a further opportunity for tailored support to beef cattle, sheep or pigs. There is an expectation that dairy cattle will also eventually be included in the offer as well.
A new agreement will be needed to take advantage of this opportunity and the agreement will last until 2027, allowing for up to three animal health and welfare reviews and three endemic disease support follow-ups as well.
The type of testing will depend on the livestock chosen. There is a requirement to ensure the same livestock selected for the initial animal health and welfare review is also the same livestock visited for the endemic disease support too.
The Future Farm Resilience Fund continues to be available to those who have not yet taken advantage of the free and confidential business support available.
Funding has been allocated to providers on a national and regional basis, meaning a farmer can choose the provider that is right for them.
The grants aim to provide support that helps businesses adapt to the new regulatory environment through helping them identify how these changes will impact them, and what they can do and when to do it in order best benefit their business.
It is important to remember that this offer is aimed at looking at the farming business, not necessarily the access to support payments. For more information please refer to our FFRF (Future Farming Resilience Fund) guide.
If you are unsure about engaging with a provider, please refer to the information online. Defra states that you are welcome to get introductory help and information from multiple providers and you can attend as many opening webinars or workshops as you like, but you can only receive detailed one-to-one support from a single provider.
Further guidance on the fund is available here: GOV.UK | Farming Resilience Fund: free business advice for your farm.
Support is only available until early 2025, so for those wanting to access this support, it will be worth applying and engaging sooner rather than later, to avoid potential disappointment or oversubscription to certain providers.
The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund 2024 offer provided dedicated themes for productivity, slurry management and animal health and welfare items.
The first application window closed earlier this year, and invited applicants had until 8 July to accept their GFA (grant funding agreements) unless the RPA has been in contact with any issues.
For these applicants, the next stage is to ensure that they have read and understand the terms of their agreement, particularly as they begin to purchase their grant funded items.
The deadline for all first application window claims is 10 January 2025, meaning there is not very long left to secure and purchase any funded items, particularly those which may suffer delays in manufacturing, shipping or issues of demand.
It is advisable to ensure your items are purchased sooner rather than later to ensure you can submit a claim in good time for early in 2025.
A major potential challenge is an item becoming unavailable, there is RPA guidance on what to do in a situation like this.
It is important that you do not purchase an alternative item without first speaking to the RPA about your grant.
More information can be found on our dedicated Farming Equipment and Technology page.
6. Slurry Infrastructure Grant round 2
Applicants invited to submit a location and design assessment form to the RPA for the Slurry Infrastructure Grant Round 2 have until 30 September 2024 to complete their forms.
This will be passed over to allow the Environment Agency to check the location and design of the proposed slurry store and decide whether it is acceptable or not.
The forms will be checked against the storing slurry rules, Farming Rules for Water and the Water Resources (Control of Pollution) (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (England) Regulations 2010, otherwise known as SSAFO. This is in addition to the slurry storage requirements as outlined in the grant itself.
Applicants will need to provide the following as a part of the assessment:
- size, location and type of new stores
- size, location, type and condition of existing stores if you are keeping them as part of your storage capacity (including photographs)
- a copy of your storage capacity calculation, using the slurry wizard
- scaled drawings and design specifications of the proposed structures
- location maps of the proposed structures including any springs, wells or boreholes within your farm holding
- maps of farmyard areas, including drainage
- information on soil suitability if constructing or expanding an earth bank lagoon or large volume supported slurry bag
- written confirmation from the original manufacturer or a suitably qualified engineer that an existing store is suitable for expansion and covering, if using this option, and
- details of the secondary containment you will use if you intend to use a large volume supported slurry bag.
The RPA or the Environment Agency can discuss possible changes to your final project to ensure it protects the environment, meets the regulatory requirements and covers the minimum storage as required by the grant.
The aim of this assessment is to ensure applicants understand the grant asks and will, ultimately, prevent time or money being wasted later on project amendments.
Once this assessment is complete, applicants will have until 27 June 2025 to submit their full applications by 11.59pm.
Round 2 pays between £25,000 and £250,000 to improve slurry storage to go beyond the legal minimum. The grant is only applicable to slurry stores in England.
For those interested in the grant, it's important to consider the wider guidance in detail which can be found at: GOV.UK | Slurry Infrastructure grant Round 2: applicant guidance.
You can also read our NFU page outlining the details of the grant.
More information on the process for the location and design assessment is at: GOV.UK | How to apply for the Slurry Infrastructure grant round 2 (invited applicants).
7. Hedgerow management – understanding the new regulations
With new hedgerow regulations now in force, it is important that you understand your obligations when looking at hedge trimming and buffer strip management.
These new rules came into effect on 23 May 2024, meaning they are now the main authority on hedgerow trimming and the management of buffer strips.
However, hedgerows are still subject to the existing rules which can include the Hedgerow Regulations 1997 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
It is key to understand which hedges have to apply to the rules. These are set out in the guidance. Find out more.
Despite buffer strip rules coming into force in May, their actual implementation will depend on the situation on farm.
- On land used for crop production, these rules will take effect from the end of the first harvest after 1 July 2024, meaning that if you have harvested a field without buffer strips, they will need to be implemented before a further crop is planted.
- On all other land, a buffer strip was required from 1 July onwards. This also applies to temporary and permanent pasture.
Buffer strips must be 2 metres from the centre of the hedge and have an established and maintained green cover. The buffer strip cannot be cultivated or have fertilisers or pesticides applied, including spray drift from a passing sprayer. Definitions are provided within the regulations, as well as a number of exemptions where these rules do not apply.
There is an updated procedure for applying for an exemption to be able to trim hedges in fields in August where a farm intends to plant oilseed rape or temporary grass in August.
This new process does not require any waiting for the RPA to grant permission. Instead, an acknowledgement email from the RPA is enough to satisfy the requirement. This will allow farmers to begin trimming as soon as they have received an acknowledgement.
There are, however, several elements to be aware of, including how to submit a request under this exemption. It is important to be aware of these to ensure any new requests are received by the correct team within the RPA. Any incorrect applications could face possible delay. Find out more.
Defra continues to offer support through its partnership with UKRI to offer research funding to innovative farming solutions.
The latest available competition is round one of the Farming Futures Research and Development: Nutrient Management competition.
Round one launched in May 2024, while round two is expected in the autumn. There are two dedicated strands to apply for – feasibility studies and industry research.
Feasibility studies focus on projects of up to £500,000 and are open to a number of applicants, while the industry research strand will cover projects between £500,000 and £1 million, however the applicant list is limited purely to businesses.
There are a number of further opportunities anticipated to launch in the autumn subject to confirmation, including round two of the nutrient management competition.
Other competitions include:
- small R&D partnerships (round 4)
- feasibility studies (round 4), and
- farming futures R&D – net zero farming.
Laying Hen Housing
The poultry housing grant is currently open for initial applications through its online checker.
The grant allows those with over 1,000 birds to improve their hen housing. The offer is available to cover one of two project types.
- Comprehensive projects which can either upgrade (refurbish) or replace (with new) existing hen housing buildings which house laying hens or pullets to deliver health and welfare benefits.
- Veranda-only projects, which allow a veranda to be added to an existing laying hen or pullet housing to deliver health and welfare benefits.
Applicants can, therefore, either apply simply for a veranda, or apply for a comprehensive project which will also include a veranda on the building. There is not an option to have a comprehensive project without a veranda, save where there is not enough suitable outside space.
Comprehensive projects should include mechanical ventilation and high welfare multi-tier systems.
Successful projects will:
- improve laying hen and pullet health and welfare
- increase environmental sustainability, and
- introduce innovation.
If a project can meet all of these priorities, it's more likely to be accepted. Submitting an initial application through the online checker will take roughly 35 minutes. The online eligibility checker and initial application portal will remain open until 18 September 2024.
Find out more about the laying hen housing grant.
Calf housing
Calf housing for animal health and welfare has now progressed to allowing full applications to be made until the final deadline of 30 April 2025.
As a reminder, this final application should be for the same project which was proposed for the previous two stages of assessment.
Due to the fact that this is now a full assessment, there is comprehensive guidance available on the government's website outlining what your application should cover, from the specification of the proposed cattle housing shed through to how to organise and prepare quotes for items or services needed as a part of the wider project.
Still available and subject to the new government’s confirmation, there are a variety of different grants for farmers during the transition period.
The Small Abattoir Fund has an allocated £4 million available for smaller abattoirs across England.
The fund aims to improve productivity, enhance animal welfare and to encourage investment and adoption of new technologies across the industry.
Grants will be available for between £2,000 and £60,000, and the grant itself will remain available to applicants until 30 September 2024.
The Water Management Grant has had two rounds so far.
Round two is currently ongoing for those who applied in 2023, with a final full application deadline of 31 October 2024 at 11.59pm. This application must include planning and abstraction licences.