Basic Income for Farmers (BI4Farmers), a new campaign group advocating economic stability in the farming sector, has written to Food Security & Rural Affairs Minister Daniel Zeichner calling on the Government to reverse its cap on Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) applications and explore a basic income for all agricultural workers.
The letter, co-signed by farmers from around England, as well as the Green Party and Labour MPs, highlights the financial uncertainty now facing farmers, farmworkers, and food producers in the country — many of whom had already incorporated expected SFI payments into their financial planning.
The decision to limit SFI applications has already been met with widespread concern from farming organisations such as Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) and the Landworkers’ Alliance (LWA). BI4Farmers and co-signatories argue that this move undermines confidence in post-Brexit subsidy schemes, particularly for small-scale and agroecological farmers who were finally gaining access to crucial financial support.
The letter calls for:
An immediate expansion of the SFI budget to allow more farmers to access support.
A reopening of applications to prevent further financial insecurity in the sector.
Exploration of a basic income for all agricultural workers, ensuring long-term stability for those who produce the nation’s food.
Previous research from BI4Farmers and the Autonomy Institute has demonstrated the urgent need for guaranteed financial support in farming, with current agricultural subsidies failing to provide the stability required for a resilient and sustainable food system.
Joanna Poulton, Campaign Lead at BI4Farmers, says a guaranteed income for farmers would ensure that those who feed the UK are not left in economic limbo due to sudden policy changes. “Farmers were promised that post-Brexit subsidy schemes would provide financial security. Instead, we’ve seen a pattern of uncertainty and exclusion. The government must act now to restore trust and ensure a just and sustainable future for UK farming.”
Amelia Greenway from Springwater Farm, highlights how small-scale farmers will be left with no Government support at all: “Receiving SFI payments would have helped deliver financial stability for our small farm. SFI would have rewarded us financially for the standard of farming we deliver. Now that has been scrapped, there is no financial security for us going forward.
“It’s been a real blow and we don’t know where we’re going to go. Many farms will now not be able to transition into more sustainable ways of farming because they don’t have the financial stability to do so.”
