The government has made £30 million available for further rounds of the popular Countryside Productivity Small Grants scheme (CPSGS), which helps farmers buy the equipment they need to boost productivity and increase yields.

The first round of funding for small grants was launched in February and the government is on course to grant more than £15 million to farmers who applied to buy new kit.

This will include equipment specific to cattle, sheep and pig farmers, as well as precision farming and resource management equipment for arable farmers.

The next application window will open in early 2019, with over £30 million available for future funding rounds for farmers.

Vicky Price, a chartered surveyor with Berrys in Hereford, said: “Particularly popular items have been fixed and mobile livestock handling systems, EID linked with weighing equipment, GPS, yield mapping and slurry monitoring and application equipment.

“Fruit ripeness spectrometers and nitrogen-measuring devices for calculating fertiliser application for crops have been added to the list for the second round, which we also expect to be popular.”

Full details will be published in early 2019 when the next round of funding opens for applications but in the meantime information about the scheme, and the items eligible for the first round of funding are listed online at www.gov.uk/guidance/countryside-productivity-scheme.

For more information contact Vicky Price at the Hereford office of Berrys on 01432 809835 or emailing [email protected].See this week’s paper for more stories like this, available in shops and as a Digital Edition now.