To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the support provided by his Department to farmers seeking to diversify their businesses.

There are two types of farm diversification for which my Department has brought forward investment support:

Diversification into a different farming activity

Diversification into a non-farming activity

Diversification into a different farming activity

To date, my Department has offered £43million in grant support under the Farm Business Improvement Scheme – Capital, with at least £4.4m offered under Tier 2 of the scheme to farmers diversifying into a different farming activity. Tier 2 is designed to support larger investments that will enable transformational change in farm businesses across all sectors, which may include diversification into a different farming activity, through projects costing over £30,000 (subject to an overall grant limit of £250,000).

Following the strong response to the Expression of Interest stage for the second tranche of FBIS Capital Tier 2, invitations to information sessions will issue shortly to eligible applicants, ahead of the scheme opening later in October.

My Department is also developing an investment measure as part of the overall package within the Future Agricultural Policy Framework for Northern Ireland to help drive innovation, productivity and better environmental outcomes.

Diversification into a non-farming activity

The LEADER priority (six) of the NIRDP made investment support available under the Rural Business Investment scheme to assist all rural businesses, including farms, to diversify into a non-farming activity. This scheme is delivered by Local Action Groups (LAGs) across the council areas in Northern Ireland. All LAGs fully allocated their funding in order to deliver projects by 2020.

The public consultation of the new Rural Policy Framework which identifies strategic priorities in rural areas going forward has just closed. The Framework prioritises where funding should be invested in the future to target the greatest need. Once the Framework has been approved, my officials will start to draft the new Rural Business and Community Investment Programme. However, at this stage it is too early to say what interventions will be funded as part of this new programme.