Defra opens £1.5m farmer welfare fund
© Tim Scrivener A £1.5m government fund aimed at improving farmer wellbeing and business resilience has opened for applications.
Defra’s expanded Farmer Welfare Grant will provide funding over three years for charities and not-for-profit organisations supporting farmers and rural communities across England.
Two webinars will help potential applicants understand the scheme.
See also: Farmer collaboration fund opens with £30m backing
The Applicant Guidance Webinar takes place from 2-3pm on Thursday 13 August, covering eligibility, eligible spending and how applications will be assessed.
An Application Portal Webinar will follow from 10-11am on 17 August, providing a walkthrough of the application process.
Applications opened on 6 August and will close at midday on 9 September.
The grant is designed to support practical projects tackling pressures faced by farmers, including isolation, financial strain, unpredictable weather and the demands of running a farm.
Defra said the new scheme builds on an earlier £500,000 grant, which supported seven organisations delivering mental health and wellbeing projects.
Previous projects
A FarmWell event near Southampton was attended by more than 50 people © FCN
Those projects included health and mental health first aid training, farmer networks, one-to-one support and FarmWell events.
The Farming Community Network, for example, used previous funding to run more than 65 FarmWell events attended by more than 2,150 farmers.
Defra said the latest scheme has been shaped by feedback from farming organisations and other stakeholders, with a focus on strengthening both personal wellbeing and business resilience.
Funding decisions are expected to be announced in October.
Organisations can submit clarification questions through the application portal until 28 August.
SFI26 Window 1 remains open
Applications for the first window of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 (SFI26) remain open, but English farmers eligible to apply are being urged not to delay as the available budget is being taken up.
Window 1 opened on 30 June and is available to two groups – small farms and farms without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement. Farmers only need to meet one of these criteria to apply.
There is no fixed closing date for Window 1. Defra says the window will close when the available budget has been fully allocated, meaning the opportunity could end at short notice if demand continues to increase.
In an update on 13 July, Defra said around 75% of the Window 1 budget had already been allocated and encouraged eligible farmers intending to apply to submit their applications as soon as possible.
As of 5 August, Defra confirmed that SFI26 Window 1 remained open and said applications were continuing to be processed. It also said it would provide a further update if the remaining budget was fully allocated.
Window 2 is expected to open in September and will be available to all eligible farms and land managers.