Defra rejects appeal to widen application pool for SFI 2024

An appeal from the Tenant Farmers Association to allow a wider range of farmers to finish their Sustainable Farming Incentive 2024 scheme applications has been rejected by Defra.

The door for any new applications unexpectedly closed on 11 March, leaving many farmers who had already started applications, but not submitted them, in the lurch.

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) and others argued that they should have been given six weeks’ notice by Defra before the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2024 scheme closed.

See also: Most farmers planned SFI expansion, CLA poll finds

However, Defra later explained this six-week notice period had been a “technical error” in the online system.

As a compromise, it invited individuals who had started an SFI 2024 application between 12 January and 11 March to complete the process.

However, the TFA argued that it was unfair to exclude individuals who had started an application even earlier and who were still “active” on their applications between 12 January and 11 March.

TFA chief executive George Dunn said: “We are aware of those who had been carefully building SFI applications, who would have started that process at the back end of last year and had been operating under the expectation that they would be given six weeks’ notice of any decision to close access to the scheme.”  

But Defra has confirmed that it will not extend the window to to accommodate cases prior to 12 January.

“It is hugely disappointing that potential, genuine applicants will continue to be locked out of the scheme,” said Mr Dunn.

“Since we know that there will be a fair few individuals within the cohort currently selected who will not want to proceed to an application at this stage, the impact on the overall budget should be marginal,” he added.

Farmers Weekly understands Defra has rejected the TFA suggestion because it would mean having to define what “active” meant in relation to an application.

However, the TFA believes it would be reasonably straightforward to determine if someone was still “actively” working on an application between 12 January and 11 March – for example, if they had opened and then saved the form between those two dates.