Countryside Productivity Grant Scheme - final round (England)

[Flat 10]

I get annoyed by these grant schemes, they only benefit you if you aren’t already investing/updating your business. Most of the items that have been on the list (arable sector) since the scheme was launched I’ve already bought 5-10 years ago! Can the claim not be back dated .

That's the whole point to raise standards in the sector. I would love retrofit GPS on my tractor but 40% of 1800 is a waste of time so it hardly helps us either......

 

[redsloe]

Your not the only one
@Clive thinks those that have equipment under this scheme are Laggards, ie a person that makes slow progress and falls behind others!

View attachment 912947

Or perhaps, 'better late than never'. The innovators will generally be bigger in scale than us peasants as it's easier to trial and adapt with less risk.
Clive is partly right though, these grants do perhaps set an inflated price, but if people are prepared to pay....
Guidence is a good example, does it really COST all those thousands of pounds? Or is it just that we are prepared to pay for it?

 

[Phil P]

Your not the only one
@Clive thinks those that have equipment under this scheme are Laggards, ie a person that makes slow progress and falls behind others!

View attachment 912947

I’m kind of agree with @Clive , I’ve looked at these grants many times and everything they offer I’ve already made the investment in! It is slightly infuriating to be honest, I’ve invested Guidances, variable rate, nitrogen sensing, weighing, yield mapping, then a grant comes along and someone else gets 40% off what I had to pay.

If my yard was 10 miles further north or south I could have it concreted for free, oh hang on I’ve already paid to do 90% of it, can’t get any to do the rest though!
Mate of mine got a spray filling shed, if sorry your out the area, same with hedge planting, the list goes on!!!

If there’s grant are going to be available it should be for everyone or no one.

Sorry rant over

 

[Flat 10]

Or perhaps, 'better late than never'. The innovators will generally be bigger in scale than us peasants as it's easier to trial and adapt with less risk.
Clive is partly right though, these grants do perhaps set an inflated price, but if people are prepared to pay....
Guidence is a good example, does it really COST all those thousands of pounds? Or is it just that we are prepared to pay for it?

You wonder don't you when an i-phone is only in the 100's of pounds

 

[redsloe]

I’m kind of agree with @Clive , I’ve looked at these grants many times and everything they offer I’ve already made the investment in! It is slightly infuriating to be honest, I’ve invested Guidances, variable rate, nitrogen sensing, weighing, yield mapping, then a grant comes along and someone else gets 40% off what I had to pay.

If my yard was 10 miles further north or south I could have it concreted for free, oh hang on I’ve already paid to do 90% of it, can’t get any to do the rest though!
Mate of mine got a spray filling shed, if sorry your out the area, same with hedge planting, the list goes on!!!

If there’s grant are going to be available it should be for everyone or no one.

Sorry rant over

Cup of tea time @Phil P ?
Console yourself that you probably didn't actually pay more than us slow buggers!

 

[Sid]

Or perhaps, 'better late than never'. The innovators will generally be bigger in scale than us peasants as it's easier to trial and adapt with less risk.
Clive is partly right though, these grants do perhaps set an inflated price, but if people are prepared to pay....
Guidence is a good example, does it really COST all those thousands of pounds? Or is it just that we are prepared to pay for it?

It's not always about the cost of manufacturing but also the research cost and the savings to be made.

If you were going to purchase something as an investment anyway then the grant is a bonus. If your buying it because there is a grant on it then it's a cost.

I’m kind of agree with @Clive , I’ve looked at these grants many times and everything they offer I’ve already made the investment in! It is slightly infuriating to be honest, I’ve invested Guidances, variable rate, nitrogen sensing, weighing, yield mapping, then a grant comes along and someone else gets 40% off what I had to pay.

If my yard was 10 miles further north or south I could have it concreted for free, oh hang on I’ve already paid to do 90% of it, can’t get any to do the rest though!
Mate of mine got a spray filling shed, if sorry your out the area, same with hedge planting, the list goes on!!!

If there’s grant are going to be available it should be for everyone or no one.

Sorry rant over

But you bought it because it made your business more efficient, you will have had a couple of years payback where as some of the late comers actually may not see the full benefit because it was bought because it looks good and theres some free money.

Seen milking robots put in because they thought that they wouldn't have to "milk cows " when actually a simple parlour would have suited them better for the money spent!

 

[Clive]

Your not the only one
@Clive thinks those that have equipment under this scheme are Laggards, ie a person that makes slow progress and falls behind others!

View attachment 912947

i do believe these schemes reward laggards and penalise innovation (wait for a grant !)

they often reward our suppliers more than farmers who see a boom in sales ( i've been such a supplier in the past !)

they don’t help new entrants as you need a SBI number

they create postcode inequality- ie a neighbour just a few miles away able to get a machine much cheaper and then complete for the same land or contracting work at lower price

They devalue our used equipment as new suddenly looks cheaper


i’m simply suggesting there maybe better ways to use this cash ? such as training and education, interest free loans for new entrants or solid business plans etc maybe ?

 

[Clive]

We can't all be arable innovators !Some of us are just dullard livestock farmers living in the dark ages !

maybe if some grants or loan schemes that encourage innovation in livestock would change that ?

 

[teslacoils]

i’m simply suggesting there maybe better ways to use this cash ? such as training and education, interest free loans for new entrants or solid business plans etc maybe ?

I'd like to see a funded "land swap" to help farms with off-lying blocks to swap with neighbours to get more ring fenced units and cut out road journeys. £££ for arbitration and a stamp duty exemption for say three years to get it tidied up.

 

[milkloss]

but some of us livestock men don’t really see much benefit from this ‘innovation’. A covered silage pit or better concrete as examples would save water, nutrients losses, potential environmental damage etc. There are plenty of benefits from improvement that can be had and not just innovation.

 

[Clive]

but some of us livestock men don’t really see much benefit from this ‘innovation’. A covered silage pit or better concrete as examples would save water, nutrients losses, potential environmental damage etc. There are plenty of benefits from improvement that can be had and not just innovation.

so how about making the money go MUCH further via interest free loans ? if the benefit is there then it should be worthwhile ?

Im not against using grants to help farmers or any business improve efficiency or productivity or start new enterprises but i think there are smarter ways than these current postcode lottos !

 

[jondear]

I don't suppose a feeder/bedder is on the list is it?

Oh yea and machine that magically produces straw or other bedding material from thin air!

 

[jondear]

On the last round we put in vario vac and milk pump . Something we wanted to do for a while since installing second hand parlour equipment 4years ago . The two came to the 7.5k min spend .But by the time it was installed with labour and electrical work cost about £10k so cost about 7k with grant .Glad we did it but it wasn't cheap.

 

[upnortheast]

i do believe these schemes reward laggards and penalise innovation (wait for a grant !)

Not sure about that.
A number of times over the years I`ve looked at heat recovery from our milk tank compressors but the sums have never added up.
With grant on standard cost (which was £1000 more than our fridge man charged) then it became viable. So win - win

 

[An Gof]

What would be really good is a good old old fashioned FHDS scheme @Clive is probably too young to remember anything about them

 

[7610 super q]

Or just give each and every farmer £25k to spend on what he/she wants to improve their business ?
To my mind funds are being diverted to the larger operators to purchase kit that they would have bought / could afford anyway.......

 

[YorkshireAndrew]

Or just give each and every farmer £25k to spend on what he/she wants to improve their business ?
To my mind funds are being diverted to the larger operators to purchase kit that they would have bought / could afford anyway.......

That’s always been my view on most agricultural grants - that & the minimum spend is often too high .

 

[snipe]

I was looking for help to put gps steering on the self propelled sprayer to help with accuracy but as I read it now this isn't covered by the grant, but a digital weather station is , to the tune of a few grant, some things don't make sense.

Been on the phone with them this morning, they have removed gps steering on this round They are only doing the bit that allows it to be fitted to non gps ready tractors, like a steering wheel motor

 

[icanshootwell]

Oh yea and machine that magically produces straw or other bedding material from thin air!

Surly these grants are for improving efficiency, safety,fuel emissions etc etc, So why is a crush on the list and a bedder not?

 

[An Gof]

Surly these grants are for improving efficiency, safety,fuel emissions etc etc, So why is a crush on the list and a bedder not?

Elf and safety guv .......... not for you but the TB testers.