FARMERS and rural businesses are being invited to apply for grant aid as the Rural Development ­Programme for England has more than £150-million up for grabs.

Running until 2013 the programme offers the opportunity to apply for grant aid from the £157-million allocated to the South West region.

Caroline Snell of Stags Launceston office said: 'Despite the strategic spending review the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) still has funding available for a range of diversification and other projects.'

One of the grants available to farmers under the RDPE is the Resource Efficiency for Farmers (R4F) initiative, which appraises the most sustainable way of managing energy, fuel, water and non-organic waste.

R4F falls under the South West Agricultural Resource Management (SWARM) scheme and can provide a grant of up to £10,000 per business — £20,000 for dairy farms — to help farmers manage their resources more efficiently.

In order to apply for funding a free of charge appraisal of the business needs to be undertaken by a consultant.

Caroline said: 'The appraisal itself is a useful tool as it looks at a farm's current costs and usage of electricity, diesel, water and waste and offers farmers practical advice in helping to reduce costs, making their businesses more profitable.'

A degree of benchmarking against other similar businesses is applied to the appraisal providing the farmer with feedback on good performance indicators, which in turn can help a farming business become more competitive.

The appraisal is used in support of the capital grant application to assist with the expenditure of capital items identified as a cost effective measure within the report.

There are a number of potentially fundable items available, including rainwater-harvesting equipment, variable speed motors and heat recovery devices.

For more information or advice contact Caroline Snell at Stags Rural Property Consultancy on 01566 771808.