Strong farmer demand forecast for £225m Capital Grants pot

Farmers in England are being reminded that the next Capital Grant scheme will open for applications this Thursday (30 July), with up to £225m available for items and actions that can improve the environment.

This fund is 50% larger than in 2025, but demand is still expected to be strong.

Would-be applicants are advised to act quickly, with all the required supporting evidence, which must be provided to the Rural Payments Agency within 10 days of the application form being submitted.  

See also: Defra publishes guidance for 2026 Capital Grants scheme

In total, there are some 80 items, spread across six groups:

• Air quality items, for example slurry scrapers (valued at £2,760/passageway)
• Water quality items, for example biofilters (valued at £2,026/unit)
• Natural flood management items, for example leaky woody dams (valued at £764 for a large one and £461 for a small one)
• Boundaries, trees and orchards items, for example repairing stone walls (valued at £16.17/m)
• Assessments items, for example a wildfire checklist (valued at £327/farm)
• Improvements items, for example educational access visits (valued at £363/visit with a maximum 25 visits a year allowed)

There is a funding limit for four of the item groups:

• Air quality £25,000 maximum
• Water quality £25,000 maximum
• Natural flood management £25,000 maximum
• Boundaries, trees and orchards £35,000 maximum

There is no funding limit for items in the assessment or improvement groups.

Webinar

To coincide with the launch, Defra is hosting a webinar on Thursday (30 July) to take interested farmers and landowners through the application and claims process.

The session will also cover the requirement for applicants to obtain Catchment Sensitive Farming advice in respect of some capital grant items, for example concrete yard renewal or livestock drinking troughs.

It will then finish with a Q&A session, giving attendees the chance to ask questions from Defra experts.

The webinar will start at 11am and finish at 12.30pm, and anyone planning to attend is asked to register in advance. A recording will be posted online soon after the event.

Strong demand

Demand for this year’s grants is expected to be considerable.

Last year there were more than 8,000 applications in under five weeks and the scheme closed in early August. 

Defra says it will issue notifications once 25%, then 50%, then 75% of the available money is allocated.

Defra has stressed the importance of applicants having sufficient funds for the items or works they are interested in, as these will need to be paid for in advance before costs can be claimed back under the scheme.