At this initial stage in the application process we are looking for information on the 5 W's (Who, What, Why, When and Where). If this information is not covered elsewhere in your SOI, you must provide it in the Case Summary box at the start of the SOI. If this information is not provided, it is likely that your Statement of Intent will receive a RED rating.
Who:
What kind of applicant are you (i.e. agricultural business, forester, new entrant, young farmer, family member, community group, etc.)? This will affect which options you may be eligible for.
What:
What is it that you want to do? In the Case Summary box, you should provide a clear (but brief) description of the project as a whole. This description should be linked back to the regional priorities, packages and options you select. If it is a collaborative project, you should also highlight this in the Case Summary box and list the other collaborators.
Why:
Say in the Case Summary box how your proposed project will contribute to the regional priority or priorities selected. If you have chosen options that require specific justification, any additional information you give in the Option Justification box(es) should link back to what you have said in the Case Summary box.
When:
The calendar year entered is when you anticipate the claim will be made, not when you plan to do the work. For actual cost capital items, the claim can be in interims within a single year. If the claim has a risk of being delayed consideration should be made to which year you will be claiming on. The claim can be broken down and slit over multiple years to allow payments to be made in more than 1 year. You must tell us which year you have chosen as your claim will only be valid during that year. If you think the cost of the project will be over £20,000 then please indicate the estimated total cost (to the nearest £10,000) in the Case Summary box.
For Annual Recurrent Options, you should state which year the work will commence. You can choose to start your contract on the 1st January following your project approval or in the year after that. This is to allow flexibility in undertaking any capital works or preparation work required in advance of the management beginning. If your project includes more than one Annual recurrent Option, it is possible to start the activities in different years. However, if you choose to start any activities in the second year following your project approval, you must justify why in your Case Summary box.
Where:
The option(s) that you select will dictate whether a map is required or not. The system will prompt you to send a map (if required) and will tell you the address to send it to. The maps can also be sent electronically to the Area Office given in the Map Requirements section of your SOI submission (email addresses provided at Area Office Contacts be aware whether it is a FCS, SNH or RPID area office.) Please mark clearly which SOI the electronic map is for by quoting Case Number, BRN and Main Location Code and ensure it is in Jpeg format. The map must clearly show the location of feature/activity. There is no set standard for the type of map but OS1:50,000 (Landranger), 1:25,000 (Explorer) and RPID IACS maps are all acceptable.
Example of Project Summary
Here is an example of how the 5W guidance would be found in a completed case summary.
WHO:
Pentlands farms Operate as an Agricultural Business and we wish to apply for funding to invest in restructuring of our farm.
WHY
BOR01b, Development and Restructuring of Agricultural Business restructuring of agricultural business and 'Diversification out with agriculture'
At present the Agricultural business is made up of 150 suckler cows, the balance of about 150 hectares is cropped predominately with spring barley. There are no storage facilities for grain other than existing ageing cattle courts, limiting the cropping pattern of the farm and making it vulnerable to the market forces of a single crop and a market at harvest.
WHAT
A purpose built grain store would enable the business to develop and restructure, enabling different crops to be stored improving competitiveness and ensuring maximum benefit of market forces. It would also enable storage of grain and pulses for home consumption reducing reliance on bought in feeds and further reducing production costs. With growing concerns over food safety and grain contamination the store would ensure improved standards of hygiene more acceptable to the general public and Scottish Quality assurance standards. Cleansing of existing facilities to the current standards are extremely costly, and provision of a purpose built store would be invaluable in again saving costs.
The store would be a purpose built shed approximately 30m x 15m with concrete panels. It could be also available for storage of fertilizer improving out of season purchasing powers it would also used for the existing expanding caravan storage business 'Diversification out with agriculture'. This ever popular facility now has 26 caravans stored, and demand is still strong. The shed would be useful for expanding this business into short term lets, at present all lets are on an annual basis for security reasons, this separate building would be used for short term storage when not in use for grain storage.
Cost approximately £75,000.
WHEN
The work would be scheduled to start in January 2010 with a completion dated scheduled for March 2010.
WHERE
The grain store will be built in the field located at FID number: NJ/78049/30123