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[helend]

Young Entrants Support Scheme (YESS)

I wanted to share what I know about this scheme because it relates to new entrants into farming - if you are the new head of a holding - which we will be!

It also has significant overlaps with final stage of the F2F plan in terms of the requirements for the application.

You need a business plan, you need to be qualified or agree to get qualified, you need to become financially viable, meet a requirement for minimum man hours (1100 hours pa = 0.5 full time workers), all this within a certain number of years- many of these things will be required to get your permanent agricultural dwelling so it's giving you no extra work.

The main difference with this is that you have to be 40 years or under when you start, and I realise for some embarking on F2F this is a bit late!

However the scheme is great for those of us who want to farm but have no chance of inheriting one or affording to buy one.

The general idea is that it will match money you put into your enterprise for capital investment eg BARN!!! machinery etc. So you see how significant this could be in achieving the F2F result!

The maximum it will pay out is £15,000, you must pay the other £15,000 and you have to submit receipts then claim, so raising the cash upfront may be a problem. I have mentioned the grant in my business plan and if we can't raise the money ourselves (we're relying on selling our house - in this market!) the bank may be willing to lend it to us as they know we will get the money back.

There's a lot more info on the website, and there's a helpline - very helpful they were too!

http://wales.gov.uk/...1825548?lang=en

One thing I rang to ask about was the minimum qualifications and they said if you don't have them you must agree to taking 6 courses relating to your enterprises within the three year period. Not a problem!

Farming Connect

On a related subject we can also seek assistance from Lantra.

Check out their website:

http://www.lantra.co...lt-Ffermio.aspx

These guys have similar criteria to YESS and for the Ag Dwelling - for you to qualify for their assistance, the man hours again etc etc.

So since we're already going to be ticking these boxes why not get some help paying for the courses we need to take for the grant? It's perfect!

You have to register and they are a bit less helpful than the YESS people but it is so worth pursuing. They also assess enterprises using the Nix figures but we can handle that. They offer help in lots of ways, including financial, they are up on latest planning in Wales and local implications, they may be able to help with a planning consultant, advise you on the business plan, etc

It's probably worth contacting these first as they have services that can help you with the grant application. Their criteria are similar in that you have 3 years to be compliant with their requirements to work 550 hours per year which is .25 of a full time person.

Bear in mind the LPA want to see justification for a whole full time worker for you to live permanently on site so we'll exceed LANTRA's needs by about April and the YESS hours by July!

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you don't achieve what you promised within the timescale allowed ie the man hours, the qualifications, etc they can take money back from you.