At the beginning of July, the Capital Grants offer reopened, making £150 million available to farmers across England. The funding supports the purchase of equipment and services that improve both farming practices and the environment. This round introduces four new capital items to help:
- Assess woodland
- Create a wildfire checklist
- Repair stone walls
- Host educational access visits
What can the funding be used for?
Farmers can now apply for support towards 78 eligible items available through the Capital Grant offer, in 6 groups:
- Air quality
- Assessments
- Boundaries, trees and orchards
- Natural flood management
- Improvements
- Water quality
You can apply for items in any of these groups. However, funding limits have been introduced for 4 groups:
New funding limits introduced
Funding caps now apply to four of the six item groups:
- £25,000 for water quality, air quality, and natural flood management items
- £35,000 for boundaries, trees and orchards
Each application can include items from these groups up to the relevant limit, as well as additional items from the assessments and improvements groups.
The changes do not apply to applications submitted in 2024, as it would be unfair to apply limits retrospectively.
How and when to apply
Applications for the Capital Grant offer are open year-round. However, only one successful application per Single Business Identifier (SBI) is permitted per calendar year.
Funding is limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The offer will close as soon as the available budget is fully committed. While Defra aims to give notice before closing the scheme, this may not always be possible.
As of 22nd July 2025, just over 50% of the available funding has already been allocated due to high application volumes. Defra will close this round of funding once the remaining budget has been committed. At that point, no further applications will be accepted, including those that have been started but not submitted.
Please note that submitting an eligible application does not guarantee funding.
Updated guidance
Defra has published updated guidance on GOV.UK which you will need to read before submitting an application, including:
- A new applicant’s guide
- An agreement holder’s guide
- Updated CS Grants Terms & Conditions
- Updated online application help guidance
- Updated claims guidance
Later this year, a further four items will be added to the Capital Grants offer: accreditation for educational access visits, installing and maintaining signage, using tree surgery to hinge a tree into a watercourse, and creating or restoring ponds.
Further help & advice
If you are interested in applying for a Capital Grant agreement, our Stewardship & Grants team are available to go through the scheme options with you and identify which actions could work for your farming business. If you then decide that you want to apply for an agreement, we can also complete and submit the application on your behalf.
For further help and advice, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.
