In March, the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme was suddenly closed to new applications. This was because the budget had been fully allocated, leaving the industry blindsided as there had been no indication from Defra that there were budget issues.
The NFU continued its work on trying to understand the actual budget position much better and consider what this meant for the future of SFI. We wanted to understand what the available budget was for Environmental Land Management schemes, specifically SFI. To do this, we needed to understand the total budget and existing commitments.
Potential gap
The NFU worked through Defra documents to try and establish how the budget was being used, and the existing budget commitments for future years. Not enough information had been published.
We needed to understand the profile of expiring agreements to help work through the maze of information available. The way to do this was through an FOI (freedom of information) request to establish the number of expiring agreements.
The FOI regulations allow members of the public to request environmental information from public authorities, in this case Defra. The regulations also set out the circumstances when Defra does not have to provide the information.
The information we received following the FOI highlights the high number of expirees this year, 5,820 to be exact. With SFI closed to new applications, and no clear timeline for when it will be open for applications again, the NFU was concerned that there could be a gap between agreements. This would lead to a gap in payments or a reduction in environmental delivery, impacting members who went into schemes in good faith of continuing their work.
What action have we taken?
The NFU wrote to former Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner to highlight the NFU's concerns and ask Defra for a clear way forward.
Following the cabinet reshuffle, with the new Ministerial team in place, the NFU wasted no time in raising the issue again. NFU President Tom Bradshaw raised CS expirees with the new Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds at the NFU's Back British Farming Day MP reception. He went on to highlight that the reshuffle is an opportunity for a reset moment, and to look at the issue again.
NFU staff continue to raise the issue directly with the Defra team to ensure it is being addressed.
Our asks
The NFU is urging Defra to set out a clear way forward before agreements come to an end on 31 December, including:
- Allowing existing CS Mid Tier agreements to roll over for one year, preventing an immediate loss of environmental delivery while giving Defra time to develop a long-term plan.
- Delivering the new SFI scheme quickly to ensure farmers can enter agreements without losing the financial means to deliver for the environment.
We continue to seek greater transparency from Defra, including on budgets and timelines for the roll out of new schemes. This is needed to allow businesses to plan.
Where does the budget stand today?
Defra publishes an annual report on its Farming and Countryside Programme, with the latest figures showing that:
- £305 million was spent on SFI
- £906 million was spent on legacy CS and HLS agreements
- £15 million was spent on Landscape Recovery
This marks an increase from 2020/21 when £427 million was spent on agri-environment schemes. Spending on environmental land management schemes will continue to increase as direct payments are phased out. By 2028, the budget for environmental land management schemes will be £2bn. This makes it ever more important to have budget transparency.
