Anyone had any success with the Countryside Productivity Small Grant Scheme?

[Rob Holmes]

As above, it looks like this is going to open gain early next year and I quite fancy autosteer for the tractor.
Is it straight forward to get or loads of hurdles?
Can one farm make several applications?

 

[ploughman1963]

Relatively simple - even I managed it

 

[Lawless]

Yes I would be interested to know this. For example can you apply for a cattle crush and auto steer? Or is it just one item per farm?

 

[Shutesy]

As above, it looks like this is going to open gain early next year and I quite fancy autosteer for the tractor.
Is it straight forward to get or loads of hurdles?
Can one farm make several applications?

Is autosteer on the list? Does it depend where you are in the country? Don't remember seeing autosteer as an option when I read about the grant a while ago.

 

[upnortheast]

Easy application form on line. 10 minutes to fill it in
If what you want is on their list you just add it to the form
All based on standard -costs. - So they pay grant on the standard cost rather than the actual cost

 

[Landrover]

Anyone got a link to the details for the next round of grants?

 

[Badshot]

There was guidance, section and rate control, can't remember auto steer.
The grant would of course help go part way, but you'd need to set it up for rate control etc.
If you just want auto steer, might be as cheap doing it without the grant interfering.
You can end up spending considerable £££ to comply.

 

[upnortheast]

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-productivity-scheme
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploa...oductivity_Small_Grant_Scheme_Handbook_v1.pdf

This is the book of words on the last one. Chances are next one will be similar

 

[Rob Holmes]

Is autosteer on the list? Does it depend where you are in the country? Don't remember seeing autosteer as an option when I read about the grant a while ago.

I assume that autosteer would qualify under GPS units

 

[Badshot]

View attachment 726466

I assume that autosteer would qualify under GPS units

Yes, but it only goes to the cost of the screen.
No fitting. No valves, etc.
The actual cost will be double the screen cost at least.
So do get quotes before ordering.


That said, I'd not go without it now.
At all.

 

[Dave488]

We got a strip till drill through it, was very easy to fill form in and fast payment.

However as far as autosteer goes, in the last round only did basic GPS system with a standard cost of £1366, meaning you could only claim 40% of that being £546, so unless there are different options in the next round it doesn't really cover full autosteer

 

[Rob Holmes]

What of you already have a strip til drill, can you use it towards its replacement?

 

[DRC]

What of you already have a strip til drill, can you use it towards its replacement?

I believe so. @neilo did it with the welsh grant I think. It was basing the price of a new drill at £23,500, which is way below the actual price of one. Grant was £9400 if my memory serves me right. I applied but decided not to go ahead in the end.
My neighbour bought a new Claydon, which cost around £37k before the grant

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

What of you already have a strip til drill, can you use it towards its replacement?

Yes, as long as you buy new and pay for the full amount, I don’t think you could show a trade in on the receipt and they require you bank statement to show you have paid before funds are released

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

I believe so. @neilo did it with the welsh grant I think. It was basing the price of a new drill at £23,500, which is way below the actual price of one. Grant was £9400 if my memory serves me right. I applied but decided not to go ahead in the end.
My neighbour bought a new Claydon, which cost around £37k before the grant

You can get a Moore / Accord for £23 ish from Agrilinc

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

It is not completely straightforward if you put in for multiple items from different suppliers.
You need to make sure what you want is available in the time frame.
We put in for a number of different items from 3 suppliers.

We were caught out when we went to order a mobile sheep handling system and found out it could not be delivered until after the window closed. We were not alone and they gave an extension, however you still had to pay in full for all the items by the end date and will not receive any of the grant money until the last item is delivered.
A bit of a problem with cash flow to say the least.

Also because you are paying in full you do not have much leverage on the supplier when it is not delivered!!

 

[crazy_bull]

Easiest free money I have applied for, but concur some of the popular items had a huge lead time,

Paid within 10 days of submitting evidence.

C B

 

[Dave488]

What of you already have a strip til drill, can you use it towards its replacement?

I did, it didn't say anything in the rules about whether you already had one, basically upgraded from a claydon SR to a hybrid

 

[Dave488]

I believe so. @neilo did it with the welsh grant I think. It was basing the price of a new drill at £23,500, which is way below the actual price of one. Grant was £9400 if my memory serves me right. I applied but decided not to go ahead in the end.
My neighbour bought a new Claydon, which cost around £37k before the grant

I got an ex demo one for £27k, which is still technically new as never actually been sold to anyone, then got £9.4k grant and still got SR to sell, hopefully for £8k, so hopefully cost about £10k to upgrade 10 year old machine, too good a deal not to do imo.

 

[ffukedfarmer]

Good luck to anyone looking for a mobile sheep handling yard in 2019. I understand that Prattley are fully committed until 2020.