The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) has kicked off with woodland grants available to farmers.

Woodland capital grants have opened for farmers under the Countryside Stewardship band of which there is £3.1 bn available. The grants, delivered by Natural England the Forestry Commission, will fund farmers for environmental land management including water quality which opens on 2 March. The scheme, which replaces the Environmental Stewardship and woodland grants, span 159 local targeting frameworks. Mid-tier targeted grants will open on 17^th March followed by 23^rd March where work will start to identify land suitable for higher tier grants. Schemes will start in 2016.

The Countryside Productivity Scheme, delivered by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and allocated 141m, will open on March 2^nd where capital grant applications will be invited.

 The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) will also open for expressions of interest on this day with applications open from July. July will also be the time for industry-led projects on animal disease, nitrogen efficiency and woodfuel supply chains. Farm business start-up grants for farmers under 40 setting up their own holding will be offered from July too.

The Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) ‘Growth Fund’ will open on 23^rd March with calls for proposals from LEP areas. July will be the second window of calls.

LEADER funding, all 138m of it, will have guidance published in March and then mid-May with expressions of interest for project proposals from July.