Farmers are being asked to apply for money to help their development.

The money comes from the IM Paton Fund from the Manx NFU.

The fund was created in 2019 by a legacy from the estate of the Ian M Paton, who died in 2016.

Mr Paton was a supporter of Manx agriculture and the Isle of Man. He was especially interested in supporting young farmers and all types of agricultural engineering.

Tim Johnston, the president of the Manx NFU, said: ’The need to produce more food in a sustainable way, while also protecting the environment creates a wealth of career opportunities and opens up numerous ways to better oneself as well as broadening learning within the agricultural sector.

’The Manx NFU is delighted to offer this bursary scheme and we look forward to welcoming its first recipients later this year.’

The union says it is interested in funding educationn, agricultural betterment, informal learning, and socio-economic and place-related factors.

It adds that itaward grants to a wide range of people, not confined to people attending universities based in the UK and for projects focused on the agricultural context.

The Manx NFU I M Paton fund has some thematic funding priorities:

· Agricultural engineering

· Understanding greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture

· Skills and capabilities

· Improving production efficiency

· Teaching and or enhancement

· Young farmers pathways

· Sustainable intensification

· Educational disadvantage learning

· Increased sustainability practices

· Genetic improvement in livestock

· Agricultural benchmarking

· Initial development or feasibility studies for practical project interventions, with relevance to wider agricultural sector, i.e. beyond those directly involved in the project.

· Small-scale inquiries, working parties or similar mechanisms to engage and deliberate with a range of stakeholders to reach common ground on a priority, policy or practical issue.

· Exploratory analysis of new data to inform the feasibility and potential for further analysis.

· Small-scale deep-dive/observational studies to understand the operation of a policy or practice area to inform a larger scale initiative relevant to the Isle of Man.

If you are interested go to www.Manx-Nfu.org/paton