VF Tyres: what options and government grants

Unfortunate this Grant has now expired but we’ll let you know here if it starts up again.

Various European governments periodically offer grants to incentivise switching from standard tyres to VF technology. These include the Scottish Government Sustainable Agriculture Capital Grant and the Countryside Productivity Scheme grants.  

The Scottish Government introduced a grant last year to help Scottish farmers upgrade to low-pressure tractor and sprayer tyres.  This was a one-off, time-restricted scheme where you could get grants of up to £7,000 per set of four wheels. Due to the various interaxle ratios on tractors, and that VF tyres often need wider rims to maximise the benefits, it was important farmers were correctly advised.  

On a set of Very High Flexion (VF) The Scottish Government provided Scottish Farmers 50% of the cost (capped at 50% of the standard costs allocation for each tractor size).  For the Highlands and Islands, was a higher grant rate of 60%. 

Here at BWT, we are passionate about VF technology. We helped promote and advise with the grant in Scotland, so we’re happy to help you!  

England have recently announced the Farming Investment Fund (FIF) which consists of two separate funds:

• Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (for grants between £2,000 and £25,000)
• Farming Transformation Fund (for grants between £35,000 and £500,000)

While these funds don’t yet include funding for VF tyres, the Farming Equipment and Technology fund does provide grants towards improving farm productivity including £2,413 towards Central Tyre Inflation Systems (CTIS).

The specification for the Central Tyre Inflation Systems are as follows:

The central tyre inflation system can regulate the tyre pressure of all tyres on the vehicle. Being able to inflate or deflate tyres from the cab to suit ground conditions and in emergency maintain air pressure in a tyre if there is a slow leak until the vehicle can be moved to a safe place to attend to the leak. The system purchased must include pneumatic control unit, operator control panel, wheel valves and pressure switch. Only systems fitted to agricultural vehicles are eligible under this item. The system purchased must be able to be retro fitted to any tractor. Systems for cars, 4x4s, vans and commercial vehicles are not eligible under this item.