Organic Farming (Conversion of Animal Housing) Scheme (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Scheme.)

This Scheme enables the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (“the Department”) to make grants in respect of capital expenditure incurred in relation to the provision of animal housing for the keeping of organic livestock and the provision of storage facilities for farmyard manure or bedding materials on organic farms (Article 3 and the Schedule).

The Scheme –

(a) prescribes the rates of grant (Article 4);

(b) enables the Department to pay a grant towards professional fees incurred by an applicant which are incidental to the carrying out of any work or the provision of any facility grant-aidable under the Scheme (Article 4);

(c) provides that the maximum amount of grant payable under the Scheme in respect of any agricultural business is £30,000 (Article 4);

(d) provides for the approval of expenditure by the Department for the purposes of a grant under the Scheme (Article 5);

(e) prescribes the conditions of eligibility which an applicant for a grant must meet (Article 6);

(f) provides that the Department may not make more than one grant under the Scheme in respect of any agricultural business within any period of three years (Article 7); and

(g) provides for the reduction or withholding of grant in certain circumstances (Article 10).

Copies of the designated map referred to in Article 2 may be inspected during normal office hours at the Offices of the Department at Dundonald House, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 3SB.