The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) announced on 11 March the immediate suspension of new applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI24), prompting significant criticism from farming and countryside groups across England hours after plans to allow developers to build in previously restricted farming areas.
The decision comes amid what Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner describes as unprecedented success in allocating the sustainable farming budget, with record participation reaching the scheme’s maximum capacity.
According to Defra, the SFI now supports more than 37,000 multi-year agreements, contributing to a total of 50,000 farm businesses participating in government farming schemes. This represents more than half of all farmed land in the country under management through these programmes. The government emphasises that all existing agreements will be honoured, with payments continuing for their full duration, and submitted eligible applications will still be processed.
Minister Zeichner defended the decision by highlighting the budgetary constraints inherited from the previous administration: “We inherited an uncapped scheme, despite a finite farming budget. It’s basically first-come-first-served, and there was always going to come a point where it was finished, which is essentially the point we’ve reached.” He further noted that the government had secured “the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion committed in the farming budget over a two-year period.”
However, the abrupt closure of the scheme and ensuing chaos has generated substantial backlash from key agricultural stakeholders. National Farmers’ Union President Tom Bradshaw characterised the news as “disastrous,” stating: “What we have now is the haves and the have nots. A large chunk of the industry cannot access any money until next year.” He expressed concern about farmers’ eroding trust in both the department and the government.
The response from the Country Land and Business Association was even more pointed, with President Victoria Vyvyan calling it “the most cruel” betrayal, asserting that the decision “actively harms nature… actively harms the environment,” and questioning the wisdom of affecting food production capabilities while “war once again [rages] in Europe.”
The SFI forms a crucial component of the post-Brexit agricultural support system, replacing the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. Unlike its predecessor, which primarily compensated landowners based on acreage, the SFI was designed to reward farmers for environmental stewardship, soil health improvement, and other public goods. Critics note that the application process has been cumbersome, with slow response times from the Rural Payments Agency, which administers the scheme.
When questioned about the timeline and budget for a replacement scheme, Minister Zeichner indicated that details would only emerge after the spending review, expected in late spring 2025. He promised a revised programme with proper budgetary caps to prevent similar situations in the future: “We will be coming forward with a scheme which is properly capped, because the problem we inherited from the previous government was no cap on this scheme.”
Acknowledging the negative reaction, Zeichner concluded: “I understand there will be people who are disappointed, and that’s why we’ll be coming forward after spending review with a revised scheme which people can apply for.” The government maintains that the future SFI will build on effective elements of the current programme while implementing stronger financial controls and better targeting priorities for food production, farmer support, and nature recovery.
