Defra blunder leaves thousands of farmers in SFI limbo

Defra has apologised to farmers after a technical error in the 2024 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) application process left thousands of applicants facing uncertainty.

The department has admitted that outdated messages from the previous year’s scheme were mistakenly displayed on the SFI 2024 application portal, leading applicants to believe they had six weeks to submit their applications.

The error was not corrected before the scheme was abruptly closed on 11 March 2025.

See also: Defra ‘blew up apple cart’ with SFI closure, says NFU chief

In a written statement released on 12 May, Defra farming minister Daniel Zeichner apologised for the confusion caused by the mistake and announced a limited reopening of the SFI 2024 scheme for farmers affected by the error.

About 3,000 farmers who had started applications after 12 January 2025 but did not submit them by the closure date will have a six-week window to complete their applications. Those farmers affected will be contacted shortly.

However, these applications will be subject to new restrictions, including a maximum annual payment of £9,300 – to reflect the median average agreement value for existing SFI 2024 agreements – and limits on adding land to rotational actions after the first year.

37,000 live SFI agreements

In his statement, Mr Zeichner explains that more than 37,000 SFI agreements are currently in place in England, with more funding being distributed than ever before.

However, the minister said the scheme’s entire budget was allocated earlier this year, prompting a pause on new applications.

Mr Zeichner said any new SFI 2024 agreements would be funded from other Defra budgets to avoid unfairness or undermining wider priorities.

While some small groups can still apply for SFI 2024 – namely farmers who were in the SFI Pilot, assisted digital applications, and applicants with known system issues that prevented them from submitting applications – scheme remains closed to others until a reformed version is launched this summer.

NFU ‘forces rethink’

The NFU said its threatened legal challenge, sent by its lawyers to Defra on Friday 9 May, had forced the government to reconsider its abrupt closure of the 2024 SFI scheme after failing to provide the promised six-week notice period.

Backed and funded by NFU members, the action argued that more than 6,000 farmers were left in limbo, some financially affected after starting applications.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw said: “We said from day one that this sudden closure, with just minutes’ notice, was wholly unacceptable and always wrong.”

Further reaction

The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA), which has also been lobbying hard on this issue, said it welcomed Defra’s decision to partially reopen the scheme, though it would not help everyone.

“There will be many who will have started an application longer ago than two months before 11 March, but who will have been adding to that application over time,” said TFA chief executive George Dunn.

“We are also aware that there will be a significant number of individuals within the cohort identified by Defra who will be unable to take forward an application because of decisions that they have made to change their cropping plans when they were no longer able to participate in the scheme.”

The TFA has called on Defra to provide advice to those individuals about what they might be able to do in order to participate in the scheme this year, rather than having to wait until a new scheme is launched for new applicants.

Victoria Vyvyan, Country Land and Business Association president, said: “We’ve been lobbying for the government to take note of the thousands of farmers who were mid-application when the SFI scheme suddenly shut, and we’re glad they have now listened.

“It’s a limited amount of money, but it does take a bit of the sting out of the suddenness of the closure. The way for Defra to avoid such a shock again is to be open and transparent, and work with industry to design the revised scheme.”