The Expression of Interest (EOI) window is open from 16th March 2026. Year 2 of the scheme begins on 1st April 2026.
Ffermio Bro is a Welsh Government programme, which launched on 1 April 2025 and will run until March 2028.
It supports farming projects across Wales’ National Parks and National Landscapes (Formerly Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty/AONBs) that make improvements for nature and the environment.
The programme is delivered jointly by farmers and the Designated Landscape bodies, working together to:
- Deliver collaborative activities that span multiple farms to achieve a common goal
- Support the recovery of nature and the resilience of ecosystems
- Help farm businesses become more sustainable and resilient
- Create opportunities for people to enjoy the Landscapes and their cultural heritage.
Each Landscape has specialist, dedicated Ffermio Bro advisors who will work with farmers and landowners to develop applications and support applicants through the process.
Ffermio Bro is a collaborative programme. It will fund activities that span multiple farms and have an impact on a landscape scale. This doesn’t just mean formal farm clusters – Ffermio Bro will fund projects that achieve a common goal through action taken on multiple farms – the farmers need not have any agreement or directly work together. Individual farm projects are also considered.
Click here for details on how Ffermio Bro will operate
Introduction to the Ffermio Bro Scheme in Bannau Brycheiniog National Park
The Bannau Brycheiniog National Park’s landscapes are special and unique, reflecting their geology, landforms, history of human settlement, farmland and the biodiversity and wildlife that also shape and depends on them. They need to continue to be managed, enhanced and protected, primarily through farming, whilst also supporting the farmers and communities who work here. Our Ffermio Bro: Bannau Brycheiniog National Park agri-environment scheme offers additional funding to allow farmers to work in partnership with each other, other organisations and us to deliver better outcomes for nature and communities. Together, we know best the opportunities and challenges facing our landscapes and communities, explained in the Park’s Management Plan “Dyfodol y Bannau.”
Your farm must be wholly or partly within Bannau Brycheiniog National Park.
This is a capital grant scheme, requiring all works to be completed within the financial year (April 1st to February 28th), leaving us sufficient time to complete administration before the end of the financial year on March 31st.
The scheme is limited to three years (April 2025 to March 2028), helping to inform the collaborative layer of the Sustainable Farming Scheme. It will work alongside, not in competition with, existing schemes.
What we will fund
We will accept one grant per farm CRN per year unless one or more farms are involved in more than one partnership delivering under Ffermio Bro.
We will award capital grants between the value of £1001.00 and £20,000.00. Any grant applications of £15,000.00 or more will be assessed by the Local Assessment Panel.
You will submit an Expression of Interest form to us to trigger discussions between you / your partnership and ourselves. The Expression of Interest (EOI) window is open from 16th March 2026.
What kind of activities will be eligible for funding?
We are seeking farm projects that fit within one or more of our key themes for Year 2 of the scheme. These include:
Projects located within the River Usk Catchment and tributaries
- Examples include:
- natural flood management interventions (leaky woody structures, ponds, soil and land management)
- enhancing and creating riparian habitat
- targeted measures to improve water quality such as stock control
- planting contour and cross-slope hedges or trees
Registered commons projects
- Examples include:
- bracken or scrub control
- enhancing upland habitat & peatland
- boundary works
- GPS livestock collars
- creating fire breaks
Habitat restoration and creation
- Examples include:
- low density tree planting (steep banks, upland gullies and streams, field corners and creating wood pasture)
- woodland restoration
- natural regeneration
- restoring and creating hedgerows
- invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) removal and eradication
- enhancing and creating wetlands, ponds and scrapes
- enhancing and creating riparian habitats
- restoring traditional hay meadows
- herbal ley creation
- traditional boundary restoration (drystone walls)
- Species-focused projects
- Examples include:
- targeted measures to support the recovery of wildlife species and habitats
- creating and establishing nesting and feeding habitat
These are examples only and not a comprehensive list. If you are unsure whether your project idea fits into the themes above, please get in touch.
For registered commons
Additionally, if you are applying on behalf of a registered and constituted commoners association and would like to explore options for controlling fuel load to mitigate and prevent arson-related wildfire, we would be happy to help you develop ideas in discussion with your freeholder.
Collaboration
We are looking for 80% of projects to be collaborations between farms and other land managers. There are several ways in which projects can be collaborative under the scheme:
- Farm cluster groups including established groups, groups formed under Ffermio Bro, grazing associations and commons projects.
- Geographic collaborations between neighbouring and connected farms or land. This can include farms located in the same river catchment.
- Thematic collaboration to include farms working towards the same aim across the National Park.
Each applicant applying for the scheme will have an individual grant application and grant allocation, even if the project is collaborative.
If you are unsure whether your project idea is collaborative, please get in touch for advice.
Payment rates
We pay at the standard intervention rate set by Rural Payments Wales (https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2025-05/ffermio-bro-farming-in-designated-landscapes-technical-specifications_0.pdf ).
Where the technical specification cannot be used, for example because of environmental considerations specific to the farmed land in question, we will offer up to 40% grant value of the actual costs.
Where a proposal is received where no standard cost is available, we will offer up to 100% of the costs where there is a demonstrable, direct environmental gain and the farmer will not make a private commercial gain and / or it is not linked to primary production.
We will consider contributing towards capital machinery purchases where relevant and where the applicant(s) demonstrates that the machinery / kit will be used for several years subsequently, relating directly to the project works completed.
Avoiding double-funding
Where you have received or are about to receive funding under another Welsh Government-funded scheme, you must provide us with a written assurance that you are not or will not be receiving funding for the same works that you are applying for under Ffermio Bro.
Key contacts and contact details:
Ffermio Bro Project Officer (Katie Parkinson)
07929 858883
What are your ideas? We’d appreciate hearing from you: ff********@*************ov.uk
Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the Tirweddau Cymru Ffermio Bro web site.