Kramp has announced the first people to be awarded their Cultivate a Generation initiative grants. The fund provides £30,000 annually for essential workshop equipment from the Kramp range, which stocks every conceivable item of workshop equipment.

 The first grant awarded in the agricultural engineer category was secured by Cameron Merryfield. He works for the John Deere dealership Mason Kings.

Claire Gammin won the family support grant, which aims to help farming families at busy times. Claire and her husband are beef and sheep farmers from South Devon, they have two sons aged five and three.

 “Thank you so much to Kramp; it was a wonderful surprise,” says Claire. “The grant will help with paying for breakfast and after-school clubs for our boys during busy periods on the farm. 

“What a great start to lambing time and half term!”

Finally, Jack Sowerby, a dairy farmer from Cumbria, was awarded the young farmer grant. He hopes to use the funds to buy tools he has always wanted.

Six students at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) secured funding as part of the special launch grant; these were presented to them by Kaleb Cooper at RAU. They have been set up with a Kramp account with a local Kramp Dealer, Carpenter Goodwin, and given £500 credit to spend at Kramp.com.

Among the winners were Caitlin Oxton, Malachi Fisher, Matthew Easton and Haleem Tumilty.

Caitlin Oxton is in her second year studying applied farm management at the Royal Agricultural University. Not from a farming background, Caitlin went to an agricultural college instead of the traditional A-level route, which kickstarted her interest in the industry.

Although it is still some way off, Caitlin is considering a farm consultancy or agronomy career and would love to have her own livestock. This is what she has the ‘Cultivate a Generation’ grant in mind for.

“I think I am going to save the grant until I need to invest in electric fencing and stock management equipment. It will help me get started,” says Caitlin.

Malachi Fisher has a military background, with his parents serving in the forces. Malachi’s passion for farming began when working on dairy farms in New Zealand while travelling. This brought him to the Royal Agricultural University, where he is currently in the second year of a degree in agriculture.

“I’d love to get into dairy farm management,” says Malachi. “I have a placement coming up on an arable farm near Banbury. Winning the grant has been amazing because if I need some extra gear for my placement, I can use it for that.”

Matthew Easton is from White River, Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg in South Africa. His family has a forestry enterprise, growing eucalyptus trees, with a proportion also growing macadamia nuts and avocados.

After a recommendation from a friend’s father, who had attended the Royal Agricultural University, he decided to study for a BSc in agriculture. Matthew’s parents encouraged him to travel for his studies to explore something new.

“I will most likely use the grant to buy equipment for my farm, perhaps some power tools,” says Matthew. “I am still working it out, but whatever I get will have to be small for me to take it home in my luggage.”

Haleem Tumilty is two years into a three-year Agriculture degree. Not from a farming background, the experience of the Covid pandemic led Haleem into agriculture. He was shocked by his family's reliance on the big supermarkets and thought there could be a more sustainable way of living if he learned about food production. Haleem hopes to start farming himself once he has graduated.

“I am going to save the grant to help me when I start my own farm,” says Haleem. “There are so many things (on the Kramp webshop), and I am still looking through everything on there.”

 Applications for Cultivate a Generation are still open. Anyone who fits into one of the categories can apply through the Kramp UK website: Cultivate a Generation. Those who have already entered will remain eligible for a grant until the end of the year.