Opinion: Closure of incentive scheme is appalling news for farmers
The abrupt closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could undermine the work of progressive nature-friendly farmers, says Cath Crowther, East regional director for the Country Land and Business Association (CLA East).
The government's announcement of the closure of the 2024 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is appalling news for farmers and rural businesses as well as nature and biodiversity, at a time when the industry is still reeling from the Autumn Budget.
SFI was the most ambitious, forward-thinking and environmentally-friendly agricultural policy seen anywhere in the world - it promised a fairer future for farmers and a greener future for the world.
Despite this, the government has now announced that "SFI has reached its completion" and that it has stopped accepting new applications immediately.
All existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will also be taken forward.
The government said Environmental Land Management scheme agreements will remain in place, including SFI, and it will launch a new and improved SFI in 2026. The redesign of the scheme will follow the spending review, which will take place in June.
The announcement came with a high degree of disingenuous messaging from the government. It has been made to appear as though this was something that was always planned. However, the reality is that since its launch, the SFI has been hampered by a stuttering roll-out, with uptake only increasing significantly in the last 12 months - all while basic payments were relentlessly reduced.
The industry was very much under the impression that the scheme would continue to remain open, with Defra providing assurance that there would be minimal changes for SFI, apart from the addition of new actions later in 2025.
In our region, there are many examples where land managers are demonstrating it is possible to farm the land and protect and enhance nature and the environment.
This is now at serious risk and the businesses that had planned to enter SFI, but had not yet submitted an application, will need to review their business plans with urgency.
The stop-start nature of these schemes does nothing to build confidence and this latest blow undermines the hard work of forward-thinking farmers and land managers who have put positive environmental outcomes at the heart of their businesses.
The government must work with us, immediately, to find a solution.
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