Hopes were high as South West Farmer went to press that an Objective One grant of £6 million will be made to Cornish dairy farmers.

The application was initially made by Cornwall Enterprise to deliver a delegated grant scheme for all dairy farmers in the county. Phil Cork from Milk Link said everyone was confident the application would be successful.

Milk Link has a huge number of members in Cornwall and Mr Cook says the grant will enable facilities to provide on farm storage and collection of milk.

A reply from the Government Office of the South West is due on August 4 and applications for grants from farmers will be able to be submitted from September.

Mr Cork told South West Farmer at the Royal Cornwall Show that although the grant application had not yet been approved, he hoped farmers were now preparing their applications to ensure they were in as soon as the news was announced. "We are confident," he said.

He advised farmers to consider their plans if there was likely to be any planning implications and to begin negotiations if there was. He also said all costs would need to be supported with evidence of quotes and it would be useful to begin to obtain those quotes for the expenditure farmers wished to apply for.

Under the Cornwall Dairy Farm Collect Scheme, a team will be in place to help guide farmers through the application process to which there will be three phases: Basic eligibility, dairy business appraisal and application forms presented to the steering group for processing.