Farming Grants ROI: Rainwater Harvesting Grant

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith, has confirmed that the new Rainwater Harvesting Scheme opened for applications on Tuesday, 1 March. The scheme will give grant aid to farmers to help them invest in rainwater harvesting facilities and related equipment.

The Minister said: "This scheme will reduce water costs on farms and I would urge those farmers who currently have a high level of water usage on their farms to examine closely the options for grant-aid which will be available under the Scheme."

Aims of the Grant

· The twin aims of the scheme are to conserve water by maximising use of rainfall run-off from farm sheds and to reduce water costs on farms. Collected rainwater cannot be used for domestic purposes.

· Grant aid is only available for the collection and storage of rainwater harvested directly from shed roofs.

Grant Rate

· The scheme will provide grant aid at a rate of 40% up to a grant ceiling of €10,000.

· The maximum investment (total spend before grant is received) that is eligible for grant aid is €25,000 per holding. The minimum is €2,000.

Eligibility

· The scheme is open to farmers who own or lease the site proposed and who declared a minimum of 5ha under the Single Payment Scheme in the current or preceding year.

· Applicants must also have between 80 production units and 1,000 production units in total at time of application.

Prioritised

Minister Smith said that "the potential for growth in the dairy sector had been recognised in the Food Harvest 2020 report and that the Dairy Equipment Scheme would give practical support to the realisation of that potential. This scheme will be of particular benefit to young dairy farmers making the necessary investment to adjust to expanding dairy opportunities and will promote the operation of cost-effective commercial operations by young farmers."

As the funding is capped, a priority system will be applied to all applications. Top priority will be given to young, trained dairy farmers because dairy farms require high volumes of water for lactating cows and for washing

Applications will be assessed under these criteria, which are ranked here in order of priority:
Applicants whose farms are regarded as requiring heavy water usage, e.g. dairy farmers.
Applicants whose proposed costs are lower than the Department's reference costs.
Applications that involveinstalling a water treatment unit or a storage tank with treatment unit.
Young trained farmers.
Applicants with any part oftheir holding (owned or leased) in a disadvantaged area

Planning Permission

All rainwater storage tanks must have either planning permission or a formal exemption from a local authority. In practice, this will mean planning permission.
All other equipment that is eligible for grant aid under the scheme does not require planning permission or exemption.

Deadline

· All works must be completed within two years of the date of approval. According to the terms and conditions, extensions to this deadline will not be granted on force majeure or other grounds.

· Investment items eligible for grant aid

· Guttering on existing buildings (round and box), including downpipes.

· Filter mechanism: fine and coarse filters. Maximum of one filter per downpipe, appropriately protected.

· Buried drains to direct rainwater from gutters to rain storage tank, including manholes with covers.

· Sump tanks and sump pumps for distribution of rainwater to overground storage tanks.

· Tanks for rainwater storage must be covered. This includes precast concrete, concrete cast in situ, fibreglass and plastic, both under and over ground, all with covers.

· Water treatment devices using either chlorination or UV treatment, appropriately protected.

· Water meters for piggeries to prevent increase in water usage due to rainwater harvesting.

Application Forms and Terms and Conditions

Rainwater Harvesting Scheme Terms and Conditions (pdf 472Kb