There are no DEFRA grants that are specifically allocated to dairy farming. However, dairy farmers and the dairy industry benefit from a range of DEFRA-funded activity.
These include: the single payment scheme (SPS); the England Rural Development programme (ERDP) and its successor the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE); the England catchment sensitive farming delivery initiative (ECSFDI); the agricultural development scheme (ADS); environmentally sensitive farming (ESF); top-up to the school milk subsidy scheme (SMS); Organic Conversion Information Service (OCIS); and the dairy supply chain forum (DSCF).
Figures for the budget allocation (NB: though actual resource spend for ERDP) to each of the schemes is highlighted in the following table:
Scheme 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 SPS1 (£ billion) n/a 1.55 1.57 ERDP/RDPE (£ million) 250.3 273.5 335.1 ECSFDI2 (£ million) n/a n/a 8.6 ADS (£ million) 2.50 2.80 3.10 ESF2 (£000) n/a 833 833 SMS (£000) 500 500 500 OCIS (£000) 311 311 311 DSCF (£000) 100 100 100 1 Figures for SPS are net of modulation. 2 Note that the ESF and ECSFDI were launched in 2005 and 2006 respectively so expenditure was not incurred in previous years.
We do not maintain records which would enable us to readily identify specific sectors benefiting from these activities.