Funded training in Scotland

For most people who qualify, yes. The Next Generation, Women in Agriculture and Small Producers funds each pay 100% of the course fee up to £500, and most ACS 100-hour modules cost less than that, so the grant covers the whole fee. The Peatland Training Fund works differently: it pays 50% of the cost, up to £1,000.

Pick the one that describes you most closely, because you only need to qualify for one. If you are a woman or girl aged 13 or over in Scottish agriculture, the Women in Agriculture fund has the broadest eligibility. If you work on a holding of 30 hectares or less producing food, drink or fibre, use the Small Producers fund. If you came into agriculture within the last five years, use Next Generation. If you work in peatland restoration, use the Peatland Training Fund. Where more than one fits, apply to the one whose criteria you meet most clearly - Lantra assess the application, not the choice of fund.

Next Generation is about how long you have been in the sector: it is for people who entered agriculture within the last five years, counted from age 18, or who are studying it or keen to start. Small Producers is about the business you are part of: a holding of 30 hectares or less, turnover under £2 million, fewer than 10 staff, a valid Business Reference Number, producing food, drink or fibre. A new entrant on a small holding can qualify for both. Both pay 100% of the fee up to £500.

You apply to one fund per course. Most ACS courses are badged for several funds, so if one application is unsuccessful you can apply to another fund for the same course later. Across all the funds you may make one application per month.

Yes. The funds pay for training, not for attendance, and every badged ACS course is studied entirely by distance learning. That is often an advantage: Lantra welcome applications from remote rural and island communities, and a distance course removes the travel and accommodation costs that stop people attending in-person training in the first place.

Yes. All four funds are for people resident in Scotland. You can study an ACS course from anywhere in the world, but this funding is Scottish and residency is part of the eligibility check.

No. All four funds are open to people who are keen to start in the sector as well as to those already working in it. The Small Producers fund also accepts paid workers, volunteers and family members of a small producer business, so you do not have to be the person who holds the land.

No, and this is the mistake that costs people the most. None of the funds pay retrospectively - Lantra cannot fund training that has already been booked, started or paid for. Apply first, wait for written confirmation, then enrol.

Apply anyway. Lantra accept applications for training above the cap and assess them case by case on the value of the training to you or your business. You may be asked for evidence about your employment status, the relevance of the course, or financial hardship.

Nothing has been spent, because you apply before you enrol. You can apply again the following month, either to the same fund or to another fund the course is badged for. It is worth strengthening the part of the application that explains what the training will let you do that you cannot do now.

Lantra do not publish a standard turnaround, so apply in good time and do not book anything until you have their confirmation in writing. If you need to know where an application has got to, contact Lantra Scotland on 01738 310164.

These are sector training funds administered by Lantra Scotland for land-based work, and they are separate from college places funded by the Scottish Funding Council and from student finance through SAAS. They pay for short vocational courses rather than full-time study, you apply per course rather than per year, and eligibility depends on your work or your holding rather than on your academic history.