Government puts new applications for Sustainable Farming Incentive on hold pending the Chancellor’s Spending Review
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced without warning today that the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme (SFI) is now closed to new applications with immediate effect and until further notice.
With ‘record numbers of farm businesses now’ involved in farm support schemes, the DEFRA announcement states that it is ‘the right time for a reset’, and ‘we will stop accepting new applications for SFI from today’.
The announcement confirms that current SFI agreements continue as normal, and that applications that have already received an offer for an agreement must be accepted within 10 working days of the offer.
H&H Land & Estates’ Head of Conservation & Environment, David Morley, says the stop on SFI will come as another bombshell of bad news for farmers across the UK. “With the closure of SFI, DEFRA is now offering no support schemes to farmers in England. This appears incredibly short-sighted and coming on top of the Budget measures on IHT it shows this Government cannot be trusted to support the farming industry in any way.
“There is no doubt that it the industry urgently needs a long-term, positive ‘reset’ in agricultural policy, but this extraordinary measure coming out of the blue like this will add immense pressure to farmers already facing unprecedented challenges to their businesses.
Further details about a revised SFI scheme are promised ‘in the summer’ following publication of the Spending Review expected in June. In the meantime, H&H Land & Estates offers all possible assistance to farmers to clinch SFI offers before the deadline and will be working with farming clients across the North of England to help manage this latest setback.