Hardship fund of up to £10,000 per dairy farm in England available

Posted on: 07/05/20

The fund is to help English Dairy farmers who have been hit hardest by Coronavirus e.g. Freshways and Medina suppliers and a few others.

The cornerstone is for the money to go to those most in need of financial help with the target to cover up to 70% of their lost income in April and May. The lower 25% threshold to qualify and access the funding means producers must have lost a minimum of 25% of their income in April and May due to Covid19 disruptions.

There is no limit on the number of farmers who can receive the support aid or on the total funding available.

It will be interesting to see how many successfully apply for the aid and more importantly all eyes will be watching to make sure the existence of aid doesn’t trigger one or more processors to drop farmgate prices further or make other moves with a view to the money actually flowing into processors pockets effectively by passing the intended beneficiaries – the farmers. For sure, one or more processors could be tempted.