Water Management Grant – round 2

This entry was posted on Friday, May 19th, 2023 at 8:54 am

When:

Stage 1 – the eligibility checker is open now until 12^th July 2023.

What is the grant for:

Capital items to improve farm productivity through more efficient use of water for irrigation
Securing water supplies for crop irrigation by constructing on farm reservoirs which will store abstracted water or harvested rainwater
The use of best practice irrigation equipment

RPA will prioritise funding for projects that improve:

Productivity
Water sustainability
The environment

The more your project meets the grant’s funding priorities, the higher your application will score. This grant is competitive so, depending on application levels, the higher your score the more likely it will be that your application is successful.

Who can apply:

Arable or horticultural business in England growing or intending to grow:
- Irrigated food crops
- Ornamentals or forestry nurseries

The land on which the grant-funded asset is installed or built must either:

Be owned by the applicant business
Have a tenancy agreement between the applicant business and the landowner in place until 5 years after the project is completed

For example, you will not be eligible for the grant if you will not use any of the water stored to grow and irrigate your own crops.

How much will you receive:

The grant covers 40% of the cost of eligible items with a minimum grant of £35,000 (40% of £87,500). The maximum grant is £500,000 per applicant business per round of funding. At least 60% of the project costs must be paid for with money from private sources like savings or a bank loan.

Eligible Items include equipment to:

Introduce more efficient water application (e.g. changing from rain gun application to trickle or boom application)
Secure water supply for crop irrigation that enables water use in a more sustainable way (e.g. constructing a reservoir and moving away from summer abstraction to rainwater harvesting or peak flow/winter abstraction
Improve business resilience and prosperity (e.g. using new irrigation systems and newly irrigated areas to increase productivity or introduce high value crops and/or moving away from fossil fuel powered equipment)
Encourage collaboration for water storage and irrigation of crops (e.g. supplying water to neighbouring farmers)

Reservoir construction and infrastructure:

Abstraction point including pump
Construction of reservoir walls
Electricity installation for pumphouse
Fencing for synthetically lined reservoir
Filtration equipment – including sand or screen filters and UV treatment
Irrigation pump(s) and controls
Overflow/spillway
Pipework to fill the reservoir
Pumphouse
Synthetic liner
Underground water distribution main and hydrants
Water meter
Water tanks to store abstracted water or harvested rainwater for irrigation of crops