UK farmers have been left furious after a vital source of Government funding "closed without warning". Applications for a subsidy scheme designed to support projects protecting wildlife and the environment shut less than six hours after it opened this week. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the Sustainable Farming Incentive's (SFI) £233million budget had been fully allocated in the short timeframe.
Farmers describe 'totally unacceptable farce'
Suffolk farmer Colin Clifton-Brown described the situation as a "totally unacceptable farce". He said: "It took me an hour to get onto the website to start with and, although I then completed the application, I was unable to submit it, presumably because the window had closed without warning."
The SFI, a post-Brexit scheme which replaced EU subsidies with payments for farmers to look after nature, had exhausted its budget by 3:48pm on Wednesday, after opening at 10am. It is a vital source of income for many farmers who have turned their land over to nature-friendly schemes in a bid to offset losses elsewhere.
NFU warns of 'frustration, anger and disappointment'
Robyn Munt, vice-president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), said: "The rapid uptake of the scheme comes as no surprise. We have made the demand clear to Defra for some time. Its closure in less than six hours shows the scale of demand there is from farmers to deliver for the environment and invest in farm resilience."
The NFU said it had been contacted by members across the UK expressing "frustration, anger and disappointment" at failing to secure the funding. Ms Munt said: "We have warned Defra for months that the available budget would not meet demand of those farmers wanting to deliver for the environment and sustainable farming. The additional funding announced by the Prime Minister in August was welcome, but with thousands of agreements ending this year, it was clear that it wasn't enough to plug the gap in the budget needed and it fails many who have been committed to such schemes for many years."
Minister defends 'fairer system' and pledges lessons
She said the backlash indicated a failure on Defra's part to achieve a "reset with the farming industry", accusing it of "further damaging business confidence that is already at rock bottom".
Farming minister Stephen Morgan said: "Farmers will receive almost a third of a billion pounds each year under new SFI26 agreements. That's nearly a billion pounds invested in resilient farming. Previously, a quarter of funding headed to just 4% of farms making claims. That's why this government developed a fairer system to reach more farmers by capping applications at £100,000 and ensured small farms and those new to environmental land management schemes were prioritised. I know some farmers who wanted to join SFI26 will be deeply disappointed not to have secured an agreement during Window 2, particularly given the challenges the sector has faced this year. I have heard those concerns and am determined to work closely with farmers as we learn lessons from this year and face SFI27, including exploring alternatives to a first-come, first-served application process."
