Three times as many farmers have applied for the latest round of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme (FBIS) than there are expected to be places for, AgriLand can reveal.
More than 3,800 farm businesses stuck bids in for the latest round of the scheme, which closed on December 4.
Tier 1 of the scheme supports smaller-scale investments to improve the sustainability of farm businesses – such as the purchase of equipment and machinery costing between £5,000 and £30,000 from a list of eligible items.
Last time around, a total of 1,200 letters of offer were issued to successful applicants. With the same £7.5 million budget as in 2019, it’s likely a similar number could be issued for the third tranche of the scheme.
Underbidding
The grant was billed as offering 40% of the total purchase price. However, advisors had been warning farmers they would likely need to ‘underbid’ to be successful, with the scheme’s point system incentivising farmers to ‘bid’ for less money than the full 40%.
An additional 1.95 points would be awarded for every percentage point applied for below the 40%.
It means that in reality, for many, the maximum granted will be closer to 32%.
A DAERA spokesperson said: “There has been a very positive response to the third tranche of FBIS-Capital Tier 1, with over 3,800 applications received and particular interest in Low Emission Slurry Spreading Equipment.
“It will be necessary to carry out eligibility checks before confirming the number and value of applications. Following this, it will be possible to give a likely timescale for issuing letters of offer to successful applicants.”
