With 83.01 marks required to be successful in the second tranche of the Tier 1 element of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme, it means that even someone who received maximum marks in all other requirements, had also to achieve marks in value for money criteria.

Forty points for a band one item, 11 points for applying online, five points for being under 40 years old and five points for having a level two qualification, gives a total of 61 marks, meaning a further 22.01 points were required under value for money to be successful. To achieve this, the amount of grant funding applied for had to be 11.3% less than DAERA’s maximum grant. So if a farmer was buying a machine at the DAERA reference price, the maximum grant that could be achieved was just over 35%.

On enquiry, a department spokesperson confirmed that 1,760 of the scheme’s 2,996 applicants to the second tranche have been successful in securing grant funding for equipment and machinery costing between £5,000 and £30,000.

Although the second tranche of Tier 1 had an extra £400,000 in the budget (to a total of £7.9m) and around 500 fewer applications than the first tranche, a higher points score was required this time around. In tranche one, 74 points were required to be successful.

The higher points requirement in tranche two shows that more farmers applied for funding which was less than the maximum grant allowed for each item, calculated as 40% of DAERA’s reference price.

The selection points under value-for-money criteria allows 1.95 points for every 1% that grant sought is below the 40% level. This goes up to a maximum of 39 points for 20% or more below the maximum of 40%.

This means that successful applicants who paid machinery and equipment suppliers close to or more than the DAERA reference price are getting significantly less than a 40% grant on the item.

Popular

However, the figures also highlight that the scheme is popular among farmers, and that a third tranche would be well received at some point in the future.