Midlands farmers say their plans have been thrown “completely in the air” by the “ridiculous” Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 application window debacle.
Launched on 22 September at 10am, the SFI window slammed shut in a mere six hours with all of the funds gone, leaving farmers across the region and the rest of the country shocked, despondent and angry.
"Ridiculous"
Edward Cawdron (pictured), an arable farmer from just north of Boston, Lincolnshire, and chair of the Boston & Wainfleet NFU Branch, grows mainly wheat, with some spring barley and beans.
“I farm on my own, so I’ve relied on SFI and Countryside Stewardship options such as flower-rich margins, grass buffer strips, overwinter stubbles, cover crops and legume fallow to reduce workload, improve soils and deliver environmental benefits,” he said.
“I spent months planning how my farm rotation would fit around the new SFI offer, with the timing of the application window opening being unclear.
“I was in my farm office on the day it opened looking at the Defra blog but then was called to load a lorry and sort deliveries, and by the time I got back to the office the application window had already opened and closed. It was absolutely ridiculous.
“The real tragedy is that environmental gains built up over several years are now at risk.”
Edward Cawdron
“The experience has left me frustrated and deeply worried. As a farmer working entirely on my own, SFI was helping me manage my workload while maintaining environmental features that benefit pollinators, improve integrated pest management and protect watercourses. Without that support, I am being forced to reconsider my entire rotation and bring land back into production, despite not having the storage space, time or capacity to farm every acre myself.
“What makes it even more difficult is the uncertainty. Harvest may be finished, but I’m still working seven days a week, often 12 hours a day, trying to work out what I can plant, where I can put it and how I can make the business function. I need to make decisions now, yet I’m still waiting on others before I can finalise a plan.
“The real tragedy is that environmental gains built up over several years are now at risk. The flower-rich margins and buffer strips have provided valuable wildlife habitat and protected water quality, but without funding I simply cannot afford to leave that land out of production. The result is that environmental features which have delivered clear benefits may have to be removed and returned
to cropping.
“This situation has thrown my plans completely into the air. Farmers like me need certainty and enough time to make informed decisions. Instead, we’ve been left frustrated, under pressure and facing choices that could undermine both farm businesses and environmental progress.”
"Devastated"
Shropshire NFU chair Kate Mayne said: “We are devastated for those who didn’t get in as many have been busy getting their applications lined up to submit themselves or for agents to do it.
“The window shut in just six hours, quite a few thought they would have time once they finished caring for livestock or getting on with field work, caring for their families and doing other jobs.
“Those that sat at their computers, including some agents working on their behalf, got stuck in the system, on the phone or online, and the window shut.
“It’s just a terrible situation to be in and there is a great deal of frustration and worry.
“The NFU is calling for clarity and urgency from Defra following our repeated warnings of a lack of sufficient budget to meet farming’s ambition for the scheme.”
"Worrying"
In the South Shropshire Hills more than 60 farmers are part of the Clee View Farmers Group who are busy maximising food production while caring for some of the county’s most treasured countryside.
Kate, who works closely, with the group, said that a fairly large proportion of those farms had struggled in the SFI window.
“There were at least 16 farming families in that protected landscape who had been unsuccessful at the last count and that is worrying.
“Like many other farmers, this group has been making environmental strides while growing crops and rearing stock.”
Clee View Farmers have been looking at soil health, positive measures that can boost biodiversity, calculating the carbon footprints of their family farms, connecting habitats for target species like door mice and much more.
Forced into a decision
“All farms are doing what they can,” Kate added.
“There are also farms in Shropshire and further afield who have been in stewardship for decades and they like others have the ambition to continue and do more but have been completely let down.
“New plans will have to be developed, business plans revisited and so it is just another blow to farmers and growers during what has been a terrible 12 months with weather extremes, volatile markets and other challenges.
“We care about the countryside we produce food from, we have and want to do more to deliver for the environment alongside feeding the country.
“Now though many are being forced into a decision between the environment and securing the future of family farms, on which the nation’s food security depends.”