News, information and updates


Save the Date: The Pershore Conference 2019

Carver Knowles are delighted to be supporting the Pershore and Upton upon Severn Branch of the NFU at their annual conference in the New Year. The Pershore Conference will be held at its usual venue at Pershore College on Thursday 24th January 2019.   As ever, NFU group secretary, Ray Foster-Morrison, has organised what promises […]

Posted on December 4th, 2018 by

Severn Trent are offering a grant up to £5,000 for local farmers

The Severn Trent Environmental Protection Scheme (STEPS) provides grants up to £5,000 for infrastructure improvement and land management changes for farmers situated within the Severn Trent Target Areas. STEPS has been specifically designed to protect and improve watercourses as well as the wider environment by supporting infrastructure improvements which are above and beyond good agricultural […]

Posted on November 29th, 2018 by

Electronic Communications Code – One Year On

It has been nearly one year since the Electronic Communications Code came into force, governing new agreements for mobile phone masts and telephone and broadband apparatus. So what are the early experiences of working under the new code? The market for new leases/renewals for mobile phone masts is progressing very slowly with few deals being […]

Posted on November 21st, 2018 by

Planning to diversify? Have you considered Business Rates?

Diversification can be the ideal way of providing a new income stream to the farm business and making use of under utilised assets. Finance and planning permission are often top considerations for new projects but is the potential business rates liability being overlooked? Farmers are in a privileged position when it comes to rates, with […]

Posted on November 16th, 2018 by

Scholarship Opportunity to New Zealand

The Rich Wigram Farm Scholarship is currently open for applications for scholarships to travel to New Zealand in July 2019 to work in the dairy industry for a year. In this blog Mike Cluley gives a bit of a low down on the history of the scholarship, what it can offer and why he would […]

Posted on November 9th, 2018 by

Budget 2018: Good news for farmers?

Earlier this week, Philip Hammond delivered his Autumn 2018 budget, the last before Brexit.   It would seem there is some good news for those looking at significantly investing in their farm business. From the 1st January 2019, the Annual Investment Allowance (AIA) is being increased five times from £200,000 to £1,000,000 for a period […]

Posted on November 1st, 2018 by

Getting it right – Letting to a farm worker

Many farmers provide accommodation for workers, especially when they are required to be close to livestock. However there are some serious pitfalls to not following the correct procedure when granting tenancies to agricultural workers. If the correct procedure is not followed then you could be granting your worker the right to stay in the property […]

Posted on October 26th, 2018 by

**To Let** Former grain store with permission for B1 light industrial/employment use

Carver Knowles are delighted to offer to the rental market a former grain store which benefits from planning consent for B1 light industrial or employment uses. The terms of the letting are negotiable, with the owner being prepared to be flexible if the right occupant can be found. The building has only recently become vacant […]

Posted on October 12th, 2018 by

What is happening to environmental schemes post Brexit?

The Agricultural Bill confirmed that Basic Payment Scheme payments will start to be progressively phased out in 2021, with all payments stopping by 2028. The current Countryside Stewardship is envisaged to remain available until 2024, with a new Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS) starting from 2025. This will be piloted from 2021 and based on […]

Posted on October 4th, 2018 by

Carver Knowles gains Cyber Essentials Certification

Carver Knowles has underlined its commitment to security and data protection by achieving independent certification under the government-backed Cyber Essentials scheme. Our name now appears on the list of certified organisations with the IASME consortium: https://www.iasme.co.uk/certified-organisations/. Our certification is backed by The National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ. It aims to help organisations […]

Posted on October 4th, 2018 by