It comes as part of a national scheme from the farmer's charity RABI
From tomorrow (21/09) Bucks farmers will be able to apply for a grant of up to £2,000 from RABI's emergency drought fund, which is allocating £2 million across England and Wales for the scheme.
It's designed to provide "direct financial support to farming households affected by prolonged dry conditions", with the £2,000 grants going towards "personal and household living cost"s for farm owners and tenant farmers whose household finances are under pressure.
In their announcement RABI said it comes in response to increased financial pressures on farming households after dry conditions in the summer on top of low spring rainfall - with this year's Spring being the warmest on record for both England and Wales - causing earlier harvests and lower yields.
These concerns have been raised by Bucks farmers already, with National Farmer's Union chair for the county (and Berkshire and Oxfordshire) Alex Nelms telling Bucks Radio back in August that it wasn't just immediate effects they were worried about but knock-on effects on cash-flow and animal feed.
National volunteer manager for RABI Lorna Murchie echoed the cumulative stress on farmers, telling us:
"Drought is obviously something that's very much impacting Buckinghamshire specifically, but also things like bluetongue is affecting the farming community.
"Many of our farmers feel like there's just one thing after another that's impacting them, and it's on top of a national crisis in terms of finances as well that affects everybody."
Talking about the grant itself, Lorna said whilst drought is "quite complex", affecting different farmers in different ways, she hopes this campaign "will really help support farmers moving forward."
Applications for the South East phase - covering Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Kent, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, East Sussex and West Sussex - open tomorrow at midday and close Friday 25th September. You can find out more here (external).
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