eAlert: 21 October 2021 - England Woodland Creation Offer - working through your applications
Published 21 October 2021
Applies to England
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1. England Woodland Creation Offer – working through your applications
1.1 We are working hard to get as many agreements as possible ready for planting this winter season.
We have been delighted by the high demand for EWCO following its launch in June and are committed to translating as much of this as possible into agreements to support planting this winter season. For the next few weeks to December our focus is therefore on ensuring that as many as possible of those good applications we and our delivery partners (e.g. the Community Forests) have already received to plant this winter are agreed in time to do so. This means boosting our staff capacity and prioritising these applications.
Once we have agreed as many of these as possible we will return our attention to those applications for planting next season, for Woodland Creation Planning Grant or that we have yet to receive. Consequently, those are most likely to progress to agreements to support planting next season. By prioritising in this way we hope to be able to support as much planting as possible both this season and next.
To find out more about the England Woodland Creation Offer and how to apply please see our GOV.UK pages.
2. Farming Innovation Programme launches to boost the future of farming
2.1 A new long-term funding programme to support farmers, growers, foresters and other businesses to embrace innovative new ways to maximise productivity and drive sustainability opened for applications on 20 October 2021.
The programme, one of the new measures set out in the Government’s Agricultural Transition Plan, will support ambitious projects to transform productivity and enhance environmental sustainability in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors, whilst driving the sectors towards net zero.
In partnership with UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), Defra is today making £17.5 million available for the first round of the three funds which make up the Programme. The first fund to open is the ‘Industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund’, where farmers, growers, foresters and businesses can bid for funding to develop new technologies and practices that will help them overcome challenges and exploit new opportunities in the sector such as the use of artificial intelligence and low-emission machineries to optimise the production process, and the development of climate-resilient crops.
On Monday 25 October, Defra are hosting a webinar on the details of the Farming Innovation Programme and will be available to answer questions from attendees. Sign up to attend the webinar.
Further information on Defra’s new funds is available at the Future Farming Blog and on the Farming Innovation Programme webpage.