Slurry Infrastructure Grant Success

The slurry Infrastructure Grant can be an effective way to increase your farm slurry storage at near enough a 50% discount, (if you are prepared to wade through the copious amounts of paperwork and Environment Agency checks).

There were over 1200 applicants that registered their interest in Round 1 of the slurry grant.  Of these 1200, only 374 were invited to make a full application.  Some of the non-invitees were rejected but the majority of the 826 ‘unsuccessful’ projects were deterred part way through the application process due to intense scrutiny from the Environment Agency, long winded design and location forms, issues with planning or a plethora of other reasons.

Although there is thought to have been fewer than 50 Slurry Infrastructure Grant projects given funding so far, for those who stuck it out and answered all of the Environment Agency and RPA questions that came their way, the Slurry Infrastructure Grant has been a very well received success, that has drastically lessened the financial burden that building a new slurry store can have upon a farm business.

It is expected that there will be a new round of the Slurry Infrastructure Grant to be announced in the new year.  Assuming that the grants’ structure is similar to that of the previous two rounds the process will consist of the following:

• An expression of interest.
• If successful, you will be invited to complete a Slurry Design and Location form, where you be required to provide proposed site maps, information on cow numbers and other basic farm information.  At this stage in previous rounds, the EA has reviewed the project details meticulously.
• If successful, you will be invited to make a full application.  At this point in previous applications, proof planning permission has been required.  Applicants who gained planning permission through permitted development were allowed in round 2 of the slurry grant.
• Following review of this, your project will either be accepted or rejected.

It is important, prior to beginning a Slurry Infrastructure Grant Application, to assess the type of store that will work best for your farm.  In my experience there is very little benefit to applying for grant funding to build an earth bank lagoon as the cost to build one is already relatively low and building one under grant funding requires you to meet certain specification that may not be necessary and may even hinder your farming system.  An example of this would be a farm using sand bedding.  Building an earth bank lagoon under the grant would require you to cover it with a fixed flexible cover, preventing the farmer from getting into the lagoon with a slew to dig out the sand. 

For farms where a different slurry storage system would be appropriate, such as a tower, the grant can be extremely valuable as the cost is near enough, cut in half.

For help or assistance with an existing grant application or if you are planning for the next round, contact Morgan at morgangray@fcgagric.com  or Tel: 07707 893492.