The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been forced to “retake” it’s decision to close the 2024 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme to thousands of applicants following an NFU-backed threat of legal action by farmers.
Defra has reopened the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2024 scheme to around 3,000 applicants after a group of farmers, backed by the NFU, threatened litigation over its decision to close the SFI without notice in March this year.
According to the NFU, one of the arguments raised by the group of farmers related to the assurance that had been provided by Defra that they would be given six weeks’ notice of any intention by Defra to close the scheme to new applicants. The NFU stated that “this appears to have influenced the Minister’s decision to review his decision to close the scheme without notice, with the Minister admitting that a mistake had been made”.
Applications to the scheme will now be allowed from those who had started an application within two months of 11th March 2025, but who had not yet submitted their application. However, NFU claims that while this is welcome news to thousands of NFU members, the Government’s announcement doesn’t go far enough as it has stated that there will be some restrictions on who can apply and what they will be able to claim.
“This issue highlights the NFU at its very best, working with its members to stand up for what we believe is right.”
Tom Bradshaw, NFU
NFU president Tom Bradshaw commented: “The Government’s abrupt and wholly unacceptable decision to close the scheme was always wrong. While it’s good to see an acknowledgement that the decision to close the scheme was flawed, we are disappointed by the constraints imposed which will still leave many farmers unfairly disadvantaged.
“This is a really critical time for the farming industry, and while today’s announcement falls short of what our members deserve, this issue highlights the NFU at its very best, working with its members to stand up for what we believe is right.”
In a statement, Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs Daniel Zeichner confirmed details of the scheme and listed the restrictions that will apply to applications made by eligible farmers, which are:
- Only one application may be submitted per farm business
- Agreements will be offered up to a maximum value of £9,300 per year for the duration of the agreement (excluding the SFI management payment, which would not count towards the value limit). This maximum value reflects the median average agreement value for existing SFI 2024 agreements
- Agreement holders will not be able to add more land to ‘rotational’ SFI actions after Year 1 of their agreement
Zeichner said: “I acknowledge that these restrictions are not part of the published SFI 2024 scheme. I have taken the decision to put these restrictions in place in order to be as fair and reasonable to the affected applicants as possible, while also ensuring the prudent use of public money and the wider public interest.”
