Your application
Application assessment and ranking
Future Farming Investment Scheme (FFIS) is a competitive scheme. Meeting the eligibility requirements does not guarantee that your application will receive funding.
After the application window closes, Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Division (SGRPID) will assess applications for eligibility and calculate the eligible grant amount.
SGRPID may verify information provided in your application against SGRPID business, Single Application Form (SAF), land, livestock and other relevant records, and may request additional information where required.
Treatment of ineligible investments
If an investment is found to be ineligible, it will be removed from your application and will not be scored, ranked or included in any Offer of Grant.
Your application will then be assessed using the remaining eligible investments.
If no eligible investments remain, your application will be rejected.
Application Score
Each eligible investment has an Item Score published in the Capital Investment Guide. Item Scores reflect the expected relative contribution of the investment to the FFIS objectives.
Each eligible application will receive one Application Score. It is a cost-weighted average of the Item Scores for all eligible investments in the application.
The calculation is:
Multiply each Item Score by that investment’s Total Eligible Cost. Add those amounts together, then divide the result by the Total Eligible Cost of all eligible investments.
Total Eligible Cost is calculated before grant rates, and the £20,000 maximum grant are applied. Grant rates and grant amounts do not affect the score.
An application containing one eligible investment will receive that investment’s Item Score.
If assessment changes an eligible investment, quantity or cost, SGRPID will recalculate the Application Score before ranking.
| Investment | Total Eligible Cost | Item Score | Item Score X Total Eligible Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover crop roller/ crimper | £8,000 | 4.1 | £32,800 |
| Variable rate and section controller | £5,500 | 4.5 | £24,750 |
| GPS field guidance system | £1,750 | 3.1 | £5,425 |
| Application total | £15,250 | £62,975 |
Application Score: £62,975 / £15,250 = 4.13.
The Application Score shown in this example has been rounded to two decimal places for simplicity. When applications are ranked, SGRPID will use the full calculated Application Score before rounding. This allows applications with very similar scores to be ranked accurately.
All eligible investments contribute to the Application Score according to their share of Total Eligible Cost. The grant rate is applied separately and does not affect the score or ranking.
Your Application Score or ranking position will not be displayed when you apply.
Ranking applications
Eligible applications will be ranked from highest to lowest Application Score, using the full calculated score. Where two or more applications have exactly the same score, ties will be resolved in the following order:
- lower Total Eligible Cost across all eligible investments; and
- preference to a business that did not receive an FFIS 2025 grant payment.
Funding the ranked applications
Funding will be considered in the final applicable ranking order.
An application will only be funded if enough budget remains to meet its Total Grant Value in full. If there is not enough budget for the next ranked application, that application and all lower-ranked applications will be unsuccessful. Any remaining budget will not be used to fund a smaller application ranked below it.
For this purpose, Total Grant Value is the total grant calculated for all eligible investments in the application, subject to the £20,000 maximum grant.