Farmer 'devastated' as government scheme closes

A farmer has said news that a government scheme to support farmers is now fully subscribed is "devastating".

Tom Martin, who farms at Haddon, near Peterborough, said he was "lucky" to be a part of the government's sustainable farming incentive (SFI), but that not all farmers had managed to put an application in.

Mr Martin said: "It has been an absolutely terrible six months in UK farming in confidence... as an industry who want to work closely with government, there is no trust, no good faith, no goodwill and no confidence whatsoever. It is shameful."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said a reformed scheme would be announced in the summer.

The closure of the scheme has been described by the National Farmers' Union as "a shattering blow".

The SFI was launched in 2022 and follows the post-Brexit payment scheme that replaced EU subsidies.

Under the scheme, farmers in England are paid to manage land to protect soil, restore hedgerows and boost nature recovery.

For farmers already on the scheme, nothing changes, and the government said those who had managed to submit an application before the window closed would be offered an agreement.

However, if an application was started and not submitted, it will not be fulfilled.

Mr Martin, whose family have farmed near Peterborough for four generations, said the news had been delivered without warning.

He said: "At 6pm last night [Tuesday], we were told with no warning whatsoever the application window had just closed, so those farmers who were preparing their applications who were doing all the groundwork... have been left with nothing but loss and a pretty hollow feeling, and a massive gap in their budget as well."

While some farmers were already on the scheme, he said those still reluctant to be a part of sustainable farming had been "caught short" and should be encouraged into this way of working.

Coming after the government's changes to inheritance tax for farmers, he said it was "adding insult to injury".

Farming minister Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge, said with 37,000 live SFI agreements, the scheme was "now fully subscribed".

Speaking in Parliament, he said: "This is an opportunity to improve how we do that under a fair and just farming transition, which supports farms to be profitable businesses in their own right... SFI can and must work better for all farms and for nature."

Mr Zeichner said the revised scheme would "align" with the government's land use framework and contribute to the priorities of food, farming and nature.

He said the underlying problem facing the farming industry was that farmers did not make enough money and the decision was about "investing in long-term stability".

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