Defra secretary promises £400m boost to agriculture budget

Defra secretary Steve Barclay has confirmed that the agricultural support budget in England will receive a significant boost in 2024-25, as two years of Defra underspending is rolled forward.

Giving evidence to the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee on Tuesday (26 March), Mr Barclay denied that his recent decision to cap six actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) was due to the risk of any overspend by Defra.

See also: Defra announces cap on SFI actions to maintain food production

“Actually, the risk for the department has been the other way round,” he said.

“The department had underspend in its last two years and, one of the things I was very grateful to the prime minister for agreeing with me was that underspend should go into the budget for the department for 2024-25.

“That means this year the budget will be £400m higher than it was four years ago. So, while we are committed in our manifesto to £2.4bn, next year there will be more than £2.4bn going into farming, and that’s essential given the wider volatility the sector faces.”

Response

The announcement has been well received by farm groups, who say it is the first time they have seen a specific figure from Defra.

“We have consistently argued that the budget must have been underspent these past few years, given the lack of speed with which the new schemes have been rolled out,” said Tenant Farmers Association chief executive George Dunn.

“We are pleased that our ask that this money is not lost to agriculture has been accepted. We must make sure that Defra now gets it out of the door as fast as possible.”

With Basic Payment Scheme money for English farmers still being cut – by at least 50% this year – the message is for farmers to make use of the enhanced Defra budget, however it is made available. 

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “The underspent budget being rolled into the 2024/25 budget is a positive step forward.

“This year, it’s important we maximise the benefits from the budget, to help deliver long-term solutions for farmers.

“As outlined in our manifesto, a £4bn budget is required to help deliver the government’s statutory environmental objectives, drive productivity and underpin agricultural resilience.”

Food security

Mr Barclay went on to say that his recent decision to limit the area farmers can enter for six of the options under the SFI to 25% of their farmed area was a reflection of the priority he was giving to food production and food security.

Putting too much land into any of these options could also be environmentally damaging, he added.

“I was struck talking to some of our environmental colleagues who said, if you take the example of greater bird seed mix, actually there is a risk of greater vermin if that is done in too high a proportion, so getting the balance right is important.

“I think where the environmental schemes lend themselves best is to those parcels of land on a farm that are less productive.”

He went on to explain that, with more than 15,500 applications to SFI 2023 after just six months, the scheme was on target to become the most popular agri-environment scheme ever.

Previously, Entry Level Stewardship attracted 20,000 applications in its first year.