With little warning, Defra has suspended all new SFI applications with immediate effect.
No new applications will be accepted until after the spending review with what is likely to be a streamlined SFI scheme.
Defra has confirmed that all existing agreement holders will continue to be paid under the terms of their agreement, including three-year SFI agreements and any eligible submitted SFI applications will be processed.
For those in an SFI pilot, they will be able to apply when the pilot agreement ends, as will those where the pilot has ended.
According to Defra SFI24 has reached its completion, with record numbers of farm businesses in farming schemes and the sustainable farming budget successfully allocated,
Food Security minister Daniel Zeichner said: ”More farmers are now in schemes and more money is being spent through them than ever before. That is true today and will remain true tomorrow. We have now successfully allocated the SFI24 budget as promised.”
Cruel betrayal
CLA president Victoria Vyvyan “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.
“Labour promised to support it, but at the first available opportunity they have instead scrapped it. Of all the betrayals so far, this is the most cruel. It actively harms nature. It actively harms the environment. And, with war once again raging in Europe, to actively harm our food production is reckless beyond belief.”
NFU president Tom Bradshaw described it as ‘cruellest betrayal to date’ and added that it is ‘another shattering blow to English farms’ and condemned the lack of understanding or compassion shown towards the industry.
“There has been no consultation, no communication; there has been a total lack of the ‘partnership and co-design’ Defra loves to talk about. It is another example of the growing disregard for agriculture within the department.
“The fact that ministers are actually trumpeting this as good news shows how desperately detached they are from the reality on the ground and how little they understand this industry.”
