New funding for farmers now available

Farmers in Yorkshire and Humber have a new chance to apply for up to £25,000 funding for more efficient equipment, it was announced today. The funding can be used to buy equipment that will help reduce running costs for farmers, slashing the amount they need to spend on fertiliser and energy.

The list of equipment that can be funded has been expanded, it was also announced. Farmers can now get funding for two new pieces of kit - voltage optimisation units and floating slurry store covers when used as part of a rainwater harvesting installation. These new additions offer further opportunities for farmers to cut their costs. The other equipment that can be funded are heat capture units, heat exchangers, rainwater harvesting, slurry separators and slurry application kit.

In the past, the funding has helped Woolrow Farm, a dairy farm near Huddersfield, purchase a heat capture unit, saving the farm over £2,000 a year in electricity. Fairhead Farm, near Whitby, also received funding, and purchased a trailing shoe to make fertiliser application more efficient. This has saved the farm £10,580 a year in fertiliser costs.

Another example is Jowett House Farm in Cawthorne, near Barnsley, which has trialled a voltage optimisation unit on the dairy farm, and found that it could save around £800 a year in energy costs. Jim Williams, from the farm, said "The voltage optimisation has made a real difference to our energy costs, and is a solution that can help reduce costs from all the electrical equipment across the farm. Installing it was easy, and it requires very little maintenance."

Farms apply through CO2Sense, the not-for-profit environmental consultancy that helps businesses, including farms, cut their carbon emissions and grow. The funding comes from the Rural Development Programme for England, jointly funded by Defra and the European Union. So far, this funding has helped farmers in Yorkshire and Humber save around £150,000 in energy, fertiliser and raw material costs.

Vicky Wren, Project Manager at CO2Sense, said, "We want to help farmers invest in equipment that will save both money and CO2. The new additions of voltage optimisation and floating slurry store covers, along with the other kit we can support, offer significant savings for farmers. These new, innovative pieces of equipment offer real benefits, and we are keen to help farms from across Yorkshire take advantage of them."

The deadline for funding is the 27th June, 2011.