‘Controlled’ rollout of SFI to cause further payment delays

Defra has indicated that it is likely to take several weeks before most farmers in England can apply for the new Sustainable Farming Incentive as the Rural Payments Agency seeks to iron out any errors in the application process.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is scheduled to open next Monday (18 September).

But addressing a recent Funding for Farmers webinar, one senior civil servant closely involved with the scheme explained that the “controlled rollout” would lead to further delays.

See also: NFU urges Defra to ‘do the right thing’ and halt BPS cuts

“What we mean by a ‘controlled rollout’ is that we start with a small number of people, who we invite to start the application process and to tell us where it is not working for them – to try and find any of the issues that we’ve not been able to find testing it internally with our RPA [Rural Payments Agency] colleagues,” said the Defra spokesman.

These potential applicants will be selected from the list of farmers who have already registered their interest in the SFI scheme with the RPA.

“As our confidence grows and we’ve found any issues, and we’ve sorted them out, then we’ll invite a larger pool of people to start, basically to tell us where we have got the application process wrong,” said the spokesman.

“Again, we’ll go through that, pick up any of their comments on the areas that aren’t working, and we’ll make improvements – and then we’ll invite a large group of people.

“Once we get to a position where we’re confident that everything is working as we want it to work – because we want this to be a good experience for people – then we’ll open it up for everybody to take part in.”

“How quickly we get through that controlled rollout process depends on the issues that we find. It might be a few weeks. It might be a little bit longer.”

Bank accounts 

The anticipated delays to a more general rollout of the scheme mean that many English farmers will not be able to join the scheme until much later in the year.

And with the first SFI 2023 payments expected to be made four months after the agreement start date, the money is not expected to hit successful applicants’ bank accounts until well into 2024.

The continuing delays have angered producer organisations, including the Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), which has called for this year’s Basic Payment Scheme cuts to be reversed, and any further planned reductions to be put on hold.

“There is an appetite for the new schemes within the farming community,” said TFA chief executive George Dunn.

“It is therefore hugely disappointing that Defra is, as yet, unable to respond to that demand.”