£233m of SFI26 money all spent within matter of hours

Fears that the funds available for Window 2 of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) would disappear quickly have come to fruition with all the money now gone, leaving many thousands of would-be claimants without crucial support.

The window for applications opened at 10am on Tuesday (22 September), with Defra confirming the budget stood at £233m, having rolled over an extra £3m unclaimed from Window 1.

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However, within two hours, Defra issued a statement saying 25% of that funding had been allocated, followed 90mins later by another saying 50% of the money had gone.

Then, at just before 4pm, Defra confirmed that Window 2 was closed and all the money had gone.

Defra farming minister Stephen Morgan said: “We built this year’s Sustainable Farming Incentive to be simpler and fairer. 

“This is a scheme that works for farmers, backs food production, and delivers practical, sustainable land management, supporting the aims of our Farming Roadmap, our long-term plan for English farming.

“We’re with farmers all the way, and we’ll set out more on the next steps for SFI in 2027 soon.” 

‘No surprise’

Tenant Farmers Association chief executive George Dunn said it was no surprise to see the money go so fast.

“We anticipated this would be the case, with a lot of land agents waiting with a queue of applications, ready to hit go as soon as the window opened,” he said.

“Sadly, there will be many who will have been unable to get a valid SFI application accepted, which will be devastating for those businesses who have suffered so much in the recent past with the severe drought and rampant disease, especially bluetongue.

“We urgently need to hear from Defra about its plans for SFI27 so that those farmers who have not been able to get in this year will not have to wait a year or more before getting another opportunity.”

IT glitches

Despite the rapid allocation of funds, there were also reports of several glitches with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) computer system, which resulted in some farmers struggling to get their applications accepted.

Natalie Gaibani, head of farming for Strutt & Parker, said her team had reported a range of errors that made an already stressful process even harder. 

“We were promised the new system would allow farmers with existing agreements coming to an end to apply for new agreements.

“But we found that, in a number of cases, the system was flagging up clashing actions, so not letting people select the options they should have been able to.”

Ms Gaibani said that, in those instances, they had submitted an application as close as possible to the agreed plan and would be emailing the RPA later to outline all the problems.

Jeopardy 

Country Land and Business Association deputy president Joe Evans said the lack of budget for SFI26 would jeopardise the ability of farmers to continue delivering for the environment on behalf of society.

“Today has been a scramble for thousands of farmers desperately trying not to be left behind.

“We urge Defra to provide clear guidance to farmers who, despite their best efforts, will be unlucky and fail to secure an SFI26 agreement.”