Food processing, Marketing and Co-operation

Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation

A picture of farmers market; (c) Scotland Food & Drink (SF&D)

This scheme can provide support grant to suppliers and producers to contribute to the government’s overall vision for food and drink in Scotland, which is to be a Good Food Nation, where it is second nature to produce, buy, serve and eat fresh, healthy food.

The food and drink sector can also help to make Scotland healthier, wealthier and smarter, with stronger communities and production that is socially and environmentally sustainable.

Through this scheme, you can apply for:

start-up grants for a new food processing business
development grants for an existing food processing business

Funding can help you:

Capital Projects:

develop or create food processing facilities, including buildings and equipment

Non-Capital Projects:

market your products in home and export markets at
national/international trade shows/fairs.
to run co-operative ventures to make sure more value is retained
by both farmers and growers
to improve supply-chain efficiency

A further application round is now open and will close to applications on 10 November 2019. Applications must be received by us by 10 November 2019. No late applications will be accepted.

Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application in mid to end February 2020.

Please note this is a competitive grant scheme and not all applicants will receive funding.

Potential applicants should be aware that in order to allow FPMC to support as many projects as possible, a maximum grant award of £500,000 has been set. While there is no upper limit on the gross eligible cost of an application, any award offer will be restricted to this amount.

Please also note that in order to demonstrate the “incentive impact” of limited public funds any request for grant assistance of less than 10% of overall costs cannot be considered.

Works on the project can begin once you have received notification of approval of grant.

You must not start work on any aspect of your project, with the exception of preliminary costs before receiving notification of the grant award. Preliminary costs incurred before the grant award letter date are not eligible for grant funding. Any other costs incurred before the grant award letter date will make the whole project ineligible for funding.

Final claims for approved projects must be received by 31 March 2021, or we will be unable to make payment.

You must not start work on any aspect of your project, with the exception of preliminary costs before receiving notification of the grant award.

Final claims for your projects must be received by 31 March 2021, or we will be unable to make payment.

Eligible & Ineligible Cost Examples

We encourage applications to be submitted as soon as possible in advance of the deadline. If all or the majority of applications are received within the last week, this may have an impact on the expected notification of outcome date.

If you have any queries or questions please contact the team who manage the scheme direct. Details can be found below in the Contact section.

*update* - July -2016 - applications for non-capital projects will be accepted from 3 August,
2016

Funding awards

The below document lists all of the successful applications which have been approved under this scheme to March 2019.

Full scheme guidance
Updates
Eligibility
Selection criteria
Applications
Claims
Payment
Inspections
Breaches and penalties
Appeals and complaints
Contact

Before you apply for this scheme, please read the full scheme guidance. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us before completing your application.

Full scheme guidance

26 March 2019

We've updated the document listing successful applications to this scheme.

For previous versions of the guidance, please check the scheme archive.

Food Processing, Marketing and Co-operation Scheme archive

Businesses who are involved in the processing and marketing of agricultural produce into food products can apply for support from this scheme.

This could be individuals, constituted groups or companies that process agricultural products into food products, market their own produce or are involved in collaborative working within the food chain.

Please note that projects involving the production of fishery and seafood products are eligible for support under a separate Scheme (EMFF). ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/grants-subsidies)

You must also be registered with the Rural Payments and Inspection Division and you can find out how to do this at the link below.

Applications will be subject to an initial eligibility check to see if they meet the criteria set out in the eligibility section.

The next stage involves technical and economic assessments that will consider various aspects, such as value for money, economic and environmental benefits and the need for public sector funding.

A National Project Assessment Committee, made up of food and drink specialists, will then consider applications and make a recommendation regarding approval and level of support. This will take into account the views of our specialists and how applications fit with the scheme and wider Scottish Government strategic objectives.

You will be formally notified of the outcome and, if successful, a contract will be issued to allow work to commence.

Applications are welcome throughout the year. When you submit your application, you should include:

three comparable quotes for each cost
evidence to demonstrate a market for your product
closed accounts covering the last three financial years
your latest management accounts, from the start of the current financial year to the point of application

However, in some cases, we understand that this information may not be available. For example, a new business may not have three years of accounts.

If this is the case, you should include an explanation to why the normal scheme rules cannot be met and we’ll make a decision on whether the application can be accepted.

There are two elements of potential support under the scheme rules:

Capital – these are projects that could help improve your property or facilities. For example, the erection or refurbishment of buildings, the purchase of equipment or professional costs such as architects', engineers' and consultants' fees.

Non-capital – these could include projects involving co-operation with other producers or suppliers, feasibility studies, product development and marketing.

Once your application has been approved, you can begin to submit claims retrospectively once costs are incurred. You can do this throughout the project at set times, which will be explained in your award letter.

We need all claims to be supported by evidence, for example invoices and evidence of payment. These should be submitted in line with an agreed claim schedule, which will form part of your application and be detailed in your award letter.

Payments will be made through BACS following the submission and validation of a claim form. We aim to make payments within eight weeks of receiving a fully completed and supported claim.

If your application to join this scheme is successful, you will also be subject to our inspections programme.

You can find out more about how and why we carry out inspections in our inspections section.

Inspections

If we discover that you have not followed the scheme guidelines, we will call this a breach. It’s important that we penalise breaches to make sure we are following European Commission law.

Further information on why we need to penalise breaches can be found below.

Breaches and penalties

If you are unhappy with a decision we have made or the standard of service we have provided, you are able to either submit an appeal or make a complaint.

Appeals and Complaints

If you have any queries or questions please contact the team who manage the scheme direct.

Food Processing Marketing and Co-operation Grant Scheme Team
B1 Spur
Saughton House
Broomhouse Drive
Edinburgh
EH113XD

0300 244 9288
Email

State aid

The aid offered through this scheme is made possible through European Commission Regulation (EU) No 651/2014. More information on this is available below.

State aid and legal base