Following the surprise closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme (SFI) without warning on 11 March, it is understood that Defra is looking to completely revamp the scheme before it is relaunched for future years.
The Guardian reported that, ‘The view in the department is that the scheme is now too wide and gets spent too quickly. Rather than being assessed on merit, payments are “first come, first served”, meaning farms with agents to fill out documents have an advantage in accessing funding. It also means many productive farms use up the funding by doing things such as leaving grassy margins and scattering wild birdseed. Ministers believe the money could be better spent on farms that are less well-off but more rich in nature, which could make a more positive difference to the environment.’
However, the newspaper also warned that, ‘Farming groups and climate experts have warned that such a plan would “leave farmers in the cold” and make it more difficult for the UK to reach net zero by 2050.’
Answering questions in the House of Commons, Minister for State for food security and rural affairs, Daniel Zeichner, said, “I do think it’s important that honourable members opposite understand that you can’t spend the same money twice, now they live in a world of ‘cakeism’ we don’t, and the money is spent. Once it’s spent you then have to move to a new set of schemes when you have the money available.”
During the debate, North Herefordshire MP Ellie Chowns said farmers who were on the point of submitting their application had no way of planning for this and are now “utterly left in the lurch”. “How does the minister expect the UK to make that vital transition to nature friendly farming and boosting UK food production if this is how they treat farmers?” she asked.
Zeichner said he was “astonished” at the comments and that Chowns should be “celebrating the fact so many farmers are now farming in an environmentally sensitive way.” He added, “I’d invite her to help us make sure that in future these schemes work better, but this is actually a cause for celebration about the benefits environmental land management schemes.”
According to The Telegraph, Environment Secretary Steve Reed, said the suspension of the subsidy scheme was a sign of success. “This Government set the biggest budget for it in our history and has now allocated it to farmers so it’s in their bank accounts and they can spend it,” he said. “That’s a success story. The last government didn’t get the money out the door. This Government’s got the money out the door. That’s a success.”
Daniel Zeichner said the government wanted to address issues around the viability of farm businesses. “They’re not going to be supported forever by the public purse. We know that,” he said.
In response NFU President Tom Bradshaw, said, “With the dramatic cut to the old support schemes there is very little support left in place to underwrite the risk and volatility of food production which was a critical part of the function of the old scheme.”
A Defra spokesperson commented later, “The minister was referring to the end to delinked payments – which pay large and wealthy landowners for simply for owning land and do nothing for food production or nature. Our commitment to farmers is steadfast, and we are not phasing out support. Instead, we’re moving to a system where public money is targeted fairly to deliver for food production and nature.”
