Labour urged to bring back vital scheme as farmers left with 'no Government support'

Farmers are being forced to lay off staff and take on extra work after the Government cut crucial financial aid earlier this year. Sustainable Farming Incentives (SFIs) gave money to farmers for taking action to protect and enhance the environment, such as managing soil health and improving biodiversity. However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), halted new applications for SFIs in March, when the allocated budget for the scheme ran out.

Richard Heady, who runs Ash Farm in Milton Keynes, urged Labour to reinstate applications to give farmers a steadier stream of income in already tough times. He told the Express: "That was a lifeline where we could earn some money for doing environmental good, which allowed us to have more time to look after the nature on the farm."

The fourth-generation farmer explained that many others in his position may be forced to cut staff due to the money lost from SFIs, leaving more work for the remaining strained staff.

He said: "The farming budget is getting ever tighter. We've not had the support from the Government that we've had before, so there's less and less labour on farms because we just can't afford to employ people like we used to.

"People are finding they've got no Government support. They used to get that basic payment but now they've got nothing coming in, so it's full on production because there is no other way of earning income.

"If we can get a guaranteed income coming in, we could use that money to employ someone to help with other jobs on the farm.

"At the minute, quite a lot of farms are deciding they need to scale back labour becuase they've not got the guaranteed income, and therefore they're just working longer hours themselves."

SFIs were introduced in a pilot program in 2021 under the Tories, before wider rollout in 2022.

Since then, over 39,000 agreements have been put in place and 800,000 hectares of arable land are now farmed without insecticides to reduce harm to pollinators and improve soil health.

Another 280,000 hectares of low-input grassland are being managed more sustainably to protect biodiversity and improve water quality.

A whopping 46,000 miles of hedgerows are also being maintained to provide habitats for wildlife, improve carbon storage, and strengthen natural flood defences.

The SFI scheme is set to be relaunched with changes in 2026 after the Government committed over £2.7 billion annually to farming and nature recovery until 2029.

A Defra spokesperson said: "We are backing farmers with the largest investment in nature-friendly farming in history to grow their businesses, get more British food on our plates and help restore nature.

"This Government inherited farming schemes that were untargeted and underspent, but there are now more than 39,000 multi-year agreements in place putting money back into farmer's pockets for the years ahead.

"We will set out further updates on the reformed Sustainable Farming Incentive in due course, which will underpin this government's commitment to food production and nature-friendly farming."