NFU fury at Defra’s ‘shattering blow’ to farmers over SFI

NFU president Tom Bradshaw has issued a withering condemnation of Defra’s unexpected decision to close the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme in England, branding Defra a “failing department”.

“This is another shattering blow to English farms, delivered yet again with no warning, no understanding of the industry, and a complete lack of compassion or care,” he said on Tuesday evening (11 March), following news that Defra has closed the SFI 2040 to new applications with immediate effect.

See also: ‘Cruellest betrayal’ as Defra halts new SFI applications

“We have had major concerns for years about whether there was the capability within Defra to deliver the agricultural transition post-Brexit.

“We have warned time and time again that large parts of the SFI were poorly designed and that the department was consistently failing to deliver it.

“Today’s terrible news was delivered with only 30 minutes warning to us before ministers briefed the press, leaving us unable to inform our members.”

No partnership 

Mr Bradshaw went on to say there had been no consultation, no communication, and a “total lack of the partnership and co-design Defra loves to talk about”.

“It is another example of the growing disregard for agriculture within the department,” he said.

“The fact that ministers are actually trumpeting this as good news shows how desperately detached they are from the reality on the ground and how little they understand this industry.

“The chaos has got worse and worse and farmers are paying the price.”

Mr Bradshaw said that, when chancellor Rachel Reeves accelerated the end of the old support schemes with last autumn’s Budget, it was on the promise that they would all be able to access the new ones, which paid them for doing environmental work.

“The door has now been slammed shut for thousands of farmers, creating ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ based purely on timing,” he said.

No transparency 

“They say the money is spent, but because Defra refuses to be transparent, we don’t know where it’s been spent, or whether it’s all been spent within this year.

“The awful dilemma now faced by many farmers is whether to turn their backs on environmental work and just farm as hard as they can to survive.

“This is a loss to both farming and the environment and cannot be what was intended.”

Farming confidence in England and Wales had reached an all-time low, Mr Bradshaw added.

“If confidence was at rock bottom and investment through the floor yesterday, tomorrow it will be gone entirely,” he said.

With 37,000 farm businesses now signed up to SFI 2024, Defra has reassured them existing SFI participants will continue to be funded, and any outstanding eligible applications will be processed.

But there are tens of thousands of farmers who are not signed up to SFI in any of its iterations, and they are still being subjected to a 76% cut in their delinked direct payments (formerly the Basic Payment Scheme), leaving many facing a cashflow crisis.