The Farming Express Mar1 | Page 17

Search for Britain's oldest working tractor begins FARMING machinery classified editor, said: “Whether you use your website LammaXchange, which is old workhorses for yard-scraping, owned by Farmers Guardian parent mowing or checking sheep, we want companyBriefing Media, has launched to hear from you.” a quest to discover Britain’s oldest How to enter working tractor. If you think you have the winning In addition to winning £1,000, the old tractor on your farm, or know owner of the oldest model entered via someone who does, you can enter by the LammaXchange website, will be going to www.lammaxchange.com/ profiled in FG and will be invited to content/tractor-competition.php to display their tractor at the company’s upload a photograph of the tractor, the sister event, Lamma 2016. date of manufacture and the owner’s James Rickard, FG machinery contact details. Defra releases water and woodland grant schemes info DEFRA has unveiled details of two new grants as part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. A total of £10 million of Government funding has been designated for Water Capital Grants, helping to reduce the impact agriculture has on water quality. Water Capital Grants will be one-off payments towards the cost of specific items or activities, attracting various degrees of funding. Eligible items include the installation of biobeds, erecting watercourse fencing, providing drinking troughs and relocating sheep dips and pens. There are more than 40 items or activities authorised for funding within the scheme. Water Capital Grants have been announced to open for applications to Natural England from March 2, 2015 with a closing date of April 30, 2015. Both the Water Capital Grants and the Woodland Capital Grants have been announced as the start of the £900m Countryside Stewardship Scheme, set to be released in full later in the summer. Woodland Capital Grants have been given £4m of funding, to encourage farmers, land managers and foresters to create new woodland, while protecting our existing forests and restoring tree health. Applications for Woodland Capital Grants opened on February 17 with various deadlines depending on particular streams within the scheme. Tree health and management plan applications are to be submitted by June 30, 2015 while woodland creation applications have until April 30 in order to allow time for a site visit and potential proposal changes. The amount agreement holders will receive depends on the capital items or options selected. For woodland creation, there is a limit of £6,800 per hectare for planting and protection. Applicants must be registered with the new Rural Payments System (RPS) and have received a customer registration number (CRN) before applying for the scheme. To apply for a woodland capital grant you must contact your area Forestry Commission office to discuss your application.