Urgent clarification has been sought by members of NFU Cymru’s Rural Affairs Board on the Welsh Government’s new Sustainable Production Grant Scheme.
At their recent meeting, NFU Cymru members learned that the Expression of Interest window for the new Grant Scheme, funded through the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020, opened on 27 July and aims to support investments in Soil & Crop Management; Production Housing & Handling; Animal & Plant Health; Renewable Energy Production and Crop Storage. Investments also need to address one or more of the cross-cutting areas of nutrient efficiency; water efficiency; energy efficiency.
Rural Affairs Board Chairman, Bernard Llewellyn, said, “NFU Cymru has been a strong advocate of the investments measure within the RDP as a means to equip the industry with the latest technologies, equipment and facilities. Farmers are rightly concerned at the addition of ‘Emissions Reductions’ as an additional criteria in the selection process which means that it is not clear to farmers from the Scheme Guidance what investments can be supported through the Scheme.
“This addition has added ambiguity when what is required is a scheme that is easily accessible and clearly communicated to the industry with an application process that is straightforward and user-friendly – and that the farmer can undertake by themselves if they so wish.”
Mr Llewellyn said, “In the current climate with difficulties across all sectors, the Sustainable Production Grant Scheme with a minimum grant threshold of £16,000 (total project spend of £40,000) will seem beyond the reach to many farmers in Wales. A Small Grant Scheme, which would allow multiple applications supporting farmers to make affordable investments in the latest technologies and equipment would be accessible to greater numbers of farmers and would be highly beneficial to Welsh farming. This should be developed and implemented to complement the Sustainable Production Grant Scheme without delay.”
