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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adding-value-grant-for-farmers-to-improve-crops-or-livestock/about-the-adding-value-grant-who-can-apply-and-what-the-grant-can-pay-for

You can apply for a grant for buildings, machinery or equipment so that producers can add value to eligible agricultural products after they are harvested or reared.

See the list of eligible agricultural products.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will prioritise funding for projects that:

You will have a stronger application the more you meet the grant’s funding priorities.

You can apply for a grant if you’re a:

The grant funded assets must be located in England. The Adding Value (AV) grant does not apply to any joint business or partnership based in Northern Ireland.

Where a grant funded asset is mobile, the same requirement applies to the location where the mobile asset is stored or kept when not in use.

The land on which the grant-funded asset is installed or built must either:

You can process any eligible agricultural products and do not have to grow or rear them yourself. For example, a sheep farmer can apply for funding for a distillery, if they wish to diversify.

The following groups are not eligible for a grant:

If you’re eligible, you can get an AV grant to pay for capital items to enable you to add value to eligible agricultural products, after they’ve been harvested or reared.

Stand-alone storage projects are not eligible for the AV grant. Only costs for integral storage areas (for example, for goods inward/outward) as part of wider processing projects are eligible, and these costs must not be more than 50% of the value of the grant.

This means that any applications involving building works that include storage areas must clearly separate out and detail the costs of the storage area works to make sure the 50% criteria is met.

The following are examples of eligible projects.

You could process an eligible agricultural product by changing it into a new product. For example, from:

You could prepare eligible agricultural products to add value before sale by, for example:

You can also use the grant to pay for facilities for the sale of added value products, such as:

These are a lower priority as they are not directly adding value to an agricultural product and will score lower than higher priority items.

RPA is also looking for projects to provide wider benefits to:

Installation and commissioning of eligible capital items.

Alterations to the electrical supply to accommodate the installation of new equipment. For example, additional wiring from the distribution board.

Upgrade of electricity supply. The eligible cost must be related to the project that will be undertaken. For example, if the project requires an additional 100 Kw of electrical supply and the new supply is 200 Kw, only half of the cost will be eligible. You will need to provide detailed evidence of the power requirement of the project in your full application.

One-off capital costs towards the development of an e-commerce platform directly linked to the project. For example, this could be capital costs to build, design and develop a promotion website, as long as this does not add up to more than 10% of the project’s total eligible costs. This cost is eligible as long as it is used for the promotion and sale of products linked within the project.

Only the one-off costs towards the creation of the appropriate e-commerce platform will be eligible. Any other costs, such as hosting charges, annual fees, licences are ineligible.

RPA will prioritise equipment using an electric or renewable energy source over those using fossil fuel (for example, diesel). Biofuels are considered as renewable energy under this fund.

Fossil fuel-powered equipment will only be supported where you can show that there is not a commercially available electric or renewable energy-powered alternative.

Second-hand items are eligible for grant funding, provided that the associated supplier quote includes a statement that the item:

The following costs are not eligible for grant funding (this list is not exhaustive).

The grant will not cover agricultural costs, such as:

The grant will not cover certain other project costs, such as:

The grant will not cover general costs, such as:

The grant will not cover buildings, land and equipment costs, such as:

Where catering forms part of an eligible larger project, you must clearly detail and separate the ineligible building or equipment costs associated with the catering provision before you declare the project cost and grant request values.

The grant will not cover business running costs, such as:

The grant will not cover financial costs, such as:

The grant is competitive, so RPA will score your application against the funding priorities. RPA will award a grant to the strongest applications.

You’ll need to follow a 2-stage application process.

Stage 1: To check if you’re eligible and how well your project fits the funding priorities using an online checker - your ‘online application’.

Stage 2: If you’re eligible and your project scores well enough against the funding priorities, you’ll get an application form and project number to make a ‘full application’.

Read the How to apply guidance before you apply for funding.

If your full application is eligible, and scores highly enough, RPA will offer you a grant.

The grant opens for applications in June 2022 and closes 6 weeks later.

The minimum grant you can apply for is £25,000 (40% of £62,500). The maximum grant for adding value is £300,000 per applicant business.

Grants can cover up to a maximum rate of 40% of the eligible costs of a project. At least 60% of the project costs must be paid for with money from private sources like savings or a bank loan.

You need to be able to pay the remaining project costs. You can use loans, overdrafts and certain other monies, for example the Basic Payment Scheme or agri-environment schemes, such as the Countryside Stewardship scheme.

You cannot use other public money (for example grant funding from local authorities) towards the project costs. You cannot use this grant to carry out capital works which are required under other agreements.

You must wait until the project start date as confirmed in your Grant Funding Agreement before you:

Any project costs incurred before that date may make your application ineligible, as the project could be considered as already started.

Grants are paid in arrears. You can only claim after the work being claimed for is finished and has been paid for. You can make a maximum of 3 claims over the course of the project.

If you buy an item for the project using lease purchase or hire purchase, you need to own this outright before you can claim any grant money towards it. If you do not own it outright, you will not be able to include these costs in your claim.

This means that, before you claim the grant, you need to:

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

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