Commoners to submit paper SFI 2023 application amid IT woes

Common land farmers in England face having to submit their applications for Defra’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme on paper due to computer technical issues, Farmers Weekly can exclusively reveal.

Following the introduction of the 2022 SFI scheme, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) built a new IT system to process payments, which does not have the functionality to process common land applications.

See also: Further delays to SFI 2023 launch leave farmers in limbo

It is understood that the functionality for commons will not be incorporated until “early” in 2024.

Consequently, no commoners, including in places such as Dartmoor, will be able to apply for the 2023 SFI scheme online this year.

Instead, the RPA is said to be “scrabbling around” to find paper-based solutions and it has been suggested they will be posting out maps to applicants towards the end of this year. But these are huge documents and are hard to manage with multiple people involved.  

“We were flabbergasted to hear this week that yet again common land and commoners have been put to the bottom of the pile with regard the rollout of environmental schemes,” said Julia Aglionby, executive director of the Foundation for Common Land.

Incomes down

Defra’s own figures show hill farm incomes for 2022/23 are forecast to be down by 63% due to the phase-out of BPS and inflation, with SFI 23 essential to enable commoners to develop viable businesses that deliver for nature, climate and landscape.

Ms Aglionby said these significant barriers to entry to Environment Land Management (ELM) schemes will delay delivering on government’s legally binding environmental targets and result in increased risk of stress to the most vulnerable of businesses.

Over 21% of all site-of-special-scientific-interest (SSSI) land is common land.

Technical issues are also believed to be responsible for Defra’s decision to postpone the launch of this year’s SFI scheme from August to September.

Farmers and land managers claiming BPS payments cannot sign up for SFI 2023 until 18 September, but can now register interest to join the scheme through the online Rural Payments service.

The delayed launch of SFI 2023 means many farmers will not receive their first payments until 2024, said NFU vice-president David Exwood.

“When they need to most, farmers are not able to access schemes that have replaced BPS,” he added.

Where is the money?

Farming organisations and farmers hit with drastic cuts to their BPS payments have been left asking where the money is going.

Defra has emphasised its commitment to the £2.4bn annual budget for agriculture in England.

It has insisted that “every penny” will be put into the sector, whether it is through direct support, ELM schemes or grants.

Any underspend this year will be added to the farming budget for subsequent years, it said.

A Defra spokesperson said: “The Sustainable Farming Incentive will open for applications from 18 September. It has something on offer for every type of farmer including commoners, and we’re making it as simple and flexible as possible for farmers to engage with and apply for.

“Commons associations understandably have more complex considerations related to their context. Therefore, RPA will work with them to provide bespoke support and process their applications as quickly as possible, just as we have always done with Countryside Stewardship and other relevant schemes.”