Capital Grants 2026 scheme closed as funds exhausted
© Tim Scrivener Defra has confirmed that all of the £225m available for capital grants in 2026 has been allocated and the scheme is now closed, just one month after it first opened.
The scheme provides grants for some 80 different items and actions designed to improve air and water quality, aid natural flood management and secure farm and field boundaries, as well certain “assessment” and “improvement” items such as a wildfire checklists and educational visits.
See also: Defra launches latest £13m farming innovation round
The grants are subject to caps of £25,000 for individual farm businesses in respect of air and water quality and flood management, and £35,000 in relation to boundaries, trees and orchards.
Defra says it received about 17,000 applications during August and is now assessing them and issuing agreements – a process that could take the rest of the year.
All supporting information should be supplied to the Rural Payments Agency within 10 days of an application being submitted.
Any applications that were started but not completed by the time the offer closed on Tuesday (1 September) will not be processed.
Popular items
The most popular items were linked to field boundaries.
For example, just over 11,000 applications were submitted for sheep netting (FG2), accounting for 20,000km of fencing, while 5,000 applications were for new hedge planting (BN11), representing about 2,500km of new hedgerows.
Just over 4,500 applications were for wooden field gates (FG12) “supporting effective livestock management by preventing animals from entering sensitive areas where they could cause environmental damage”.
Defra also says one-third of applicants had less than 50ha of land, while about half were applying for the first time.
“We’re pleased to see so many new applicants engaging with the scheme, demonstrating growing awareness of the support available and the opportunities it offers to make practical improvements,” said a statement.
New support payments roll in Northern Ireland
The first payments under Northern Ireland’s new Farm Sustainability Payments scheme have gone out this week, putting some £240m into farmers’ pockets out of a total rural budget of £329m.
The funding is part of the NI Assembly’s Sustainable Agriculture Programme and is intended as a “safety net” payment as policymakers aim to balance farm support with environmental delivery and sustainability.
To achieve this, greater conditionality is attached to the new payments than existed in the past, including a requirement to take part on the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme and in a bovine genetics project.
There is also an active farmer requirement, and progressive capping of payments above £60,000.
Agriculture minister Andrew Muir has also indicated he wants to make carbon foot-printing a condition for future payments.
