New funding now available for Yorkshire farmers

Farmers in Yorkshire can apply for RDPE funding for equipment that will help them save money and be more efficient, it was announced this week.

Farms can get up to £25,000 to spend on new equipment that will help them use less energy or fewer raw materials, such as fertiliser, and so save money and reduce the amount of CO2 they produce. There are seven different energy saving pieces of equipment that can be bought with the funding - heat capture units, voltage optimisation, heat exchangers, rainwater harvesting, slurry or silage store roofs including floating covers, but only where these costs are part of a wider rainwater harvesting project, slurry separators and slurry distribution kit.

Margy Hall, from Woolrow Farm, a 500 cow dairy farm in Huddersfield, received £9,520 to purchase a trailing shoe and a heat capture unit in 2009. "The savings we are making are invaluable to the farm," said Margy. "Since installing the heat capture unit, we have saved £2,000 a year on our electricity bill. The trailing shoe has not only saved us money on fertiliser, but means that we can spread slurry in summer to make better use of its nutrients."

Farms apply through CO2Sense, a not-for-profit company that helps businesses, including farms, cut their carbon emissions and grow. The funding comes from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) which is jointly funded by Defra and the European Union. Since the funding began, it has saved farms in Yorkshire £145,747 by helping them to purchase new, more efficient equipment.

Vicky Wren, FREP project manager, CO2Sense, said "We want to help farmers in Yorkshire to become as efficient as possible to help them save money and CO2. This funding gives farms the chance to make long-term changes, and now that there are even more technologies we can support, including voltage optimisation and floating slurry store covers, we hope to make even more savings for farms in Yorkshire".

The deadline for applications is 7/03/11. To see if you are eligible, or if you wish to apply, contact Vicky Wren on 0113 237 8461, or vicky.wren@co2sense.org.uk, or visit www.co2sense.org.uk/frep