The Woodland Trust in NI is top of the list of bodies in receipt of money for rural development measures funded by DAERA in the period from 16 October 2024 to 15 October 2025.
Over that period, the Trust received £798,462 of public money which was used for ‘Investment in forest area development and viability’. The Trust manages 50 woods across NI.
Second on the list is the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, an English based not-for-profit organisation which provides independent environmental based research data. It received £690,499 from
In third is Countryside Services Ltd, the wholly owned business arm of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, which was paid just under £650,000 for the administration of various farmer programmes in NI on behalf of DAERA.
The Rivers Trust is in fourth, with the charity receiving funding from DAERA for various programmes to help deliver improved water quality in NI.
Filling out the top six positions are the Ulster Wildlife Trust (UWT) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), with payments of £383,648 and £300,063 respectively. Both organisations availed of agri-environment scheme money, with the RSPB also getting over £3,700 of direct farm payments.
However, the bulk of funding coming from DAERA is for schemes that involve working with farmers on environmental initiatives. Outside of the first six, the remainder of the top 30 on the list are mainly farm businesses, with 22 receiving rural development funding of over £100,000 and 12 with funding of over £200,000.
It is understood that a lot of this money relates to payments made under Tier 2 of the Farm Business Improvement Scheme, which offered up to £250,000 of grants for large scale projects.
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