Funding for Growth - Grant support for land based businesses

• Presentations
• Agenda
• Speakers
• Workshops
• Venue & Location
• Booking Form

There will be four workshops on offer during the day, please chose 3 workshops most relevant to you when booking your place (see booking form)

Each workshop will be attended by someone from the RDPE Team to explain the eligibility criteria, funding rules and how to apply. There will also be a grant recipient available to talk to about their experience of RDPE and how funding has helped develop their business.

The four workshops will be:-

Livestock
Join a discussion about a livestock farm with industry experts to help you identify the areas of opportunity for your business. There is £12 million available for the livestock industry within the overall RDPE budget and this is targeted at improving competitiveness, animal health and welfare and nutrient management. The RDPE team will be available at the workshop to explain how to apply for funding and answer your questions. Interested delegates from the beef, dairy, sheep, pig and poultry sector are welcome to attend to receive advice on how to develop an RDPE project and to hear from farmers who have already benefitted from RDPE funding to support their business.  
Talking about their RDPE projects, our guests in the Livestock workshop will be:
Julie Robinson, Rural Development Manager, RDPE Team, emda
George Cook, Business Link
Oliver Lee, Business Link

Diversification and New Opportunities
RDPE funding is available to assist farm businesses wishing to restructure and grow through the development of diversified activities which will provide alternative and additional income sources. The list of opportunities is endless; RDPE in the East Midlands has already offered support for projects ranging from turning redundant buildings into a children's day nursery or a farm shop through to building a canal boat marina. RDPE grant recipients from the region will be telling their diversification stories and the RDPE team will be able to answer any questions you have about how to put your idea into practice with the help of a grant. 
Talking about their RDPE projects, our guests in the Diversification workshop will be:
Ivan and Heather Bannister - Rural Holiday Let and Arts and Crafts Studio near Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire (RDPE grant of £104,428) 
Gilly and Simon Groom - The Calf House Bed & Breakfast Accommodation and Conference Facilities near Matlock, Derbyshire (RDPE grant of £70,000)
Roy Mayo - Thrupp Wharf Marina near Milton Keynes, Northamptonshire (RDPE grant of £178,230)
John Strawson - Centre of Renewable Energy (CORE) near Retford, North Notts (RDPE grant of £140,000)

Renewable Energy and Water Management
Within the RDPE there is great scope for projects to address renewable energy and water management issues, whilst improving the competitiveness and sustainability of the business. Resource efficiency initiatives may include the installation of renewable energy technologies to reduce fossil fuel use or developing a biogas plant to deal with a waste management problem. By using water resources more efficiently and effectively through the use of winter storage, water harvesting and / or recycling systems, an agricultural or horticultural business may reduce their risk and environmental impact whilst improving product quality.  All these topics will be covered during this workshop and previous RDPE grant recipients will be on hand to share their stories and explain the benefits now being seen. The RDPE team will also be available to answer any of your grant application questions.
Explaining their RDPE projects, our guests in the Resource Efficiency / Renewable Energy workshop will be:
Mark Willcox and Grahame Beattie - Branston Ltd Branston Anaerobic Digestion and Water Recycling Project in Lincoln (RDPE grant of £568,884)
Mark Pierce - Gallops Dairy Farm water harvesting project in Wigston, Leicestershire (RDPE grant of £15,456)
Robert Bell - Bell Brothers Nurseries - biomass heating system project in Boston, Lincolnshire (RDPE grant of £83,458)
In addition, Paul Meakin and colleagues from the Environment Agency will join to discuss a range of topics including water harvesting and irrigation

Woodfuel & Forestry
There will be three different subjects covered in the woodfuel/forestry workshops.
Woodfuel: Andy Hall, formerly the head of the Forestry Commissions Technical Development team, Andy is now the Regional Director of the Forestry Commission in the East Midlands. He will lead us through the practicalities and benefits of installing biomass systems.
Building with wood: Craig White is an architectural practitioner and renewable building material entrepreneur. Craig is a board member of the Timber Research and Development Association, Re-thinking, Spike Island, Chair of Wood for Gold and is a Technology Strategy Board steering group member. This workshop will demonstrate how timber and wood products can substitute steel and concrete, lowering the carbon footprint of new development.
Trees and carbon: Mark Broadmeadow the Forestry Commission's lead on Climate Change, will lead us through the current thinking on how businesses can approach investing in tree planting to mitigate CO2 production.