The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) which launched in England in June last year as a replacement for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) has so far only paid 224 farms according to leaked figures obtained by The Guardian newspaper. The BPS payments to English farmers have been cut in both 2021 and 2022 and are due to be fully phased out by 2027. 224 farms receiving their SFI payments represent only 0.2% of the 102,000 BPS claimants.
DEFRA farming minister Mike Spencer has said that the money taken out of the BPS has been made available to farmers through one-off grants and ongoing schemes. The low take up of the SFI has led to criticisms that there is a lack of confidence due to a lack of detail on payment rates and the standards required.
From 2023 a new payment of £20 per hectare (ha) for the first 50 ha has been introduced to cover the costs of taking part in SFI, and more options are to be added.
The reduction in BPS payments along with a very slow take up of the SFI is likely to have a wider impact across the rural economy, precisely echoing what the FUW has consistently warned of, including in responses to consultations on proposals conducted in England and Wales.
The FUW has continually warned against reducing the BPS until a fully workable scheme is in place to replace it. In its response to Defra’s February 2018 ‘Health and Harmony’ proposals for agricultural reforms, the FUW stated that:
‘...little more than lip-service has been paid to the wellbeing of individuals, farming families, rural businesses and the rural and wider economy, as well as others involved in agricultural and food supply chains…we oppose any intermediate or long term plans to reduce direct payments to zero in the absence of the introduction of properly investigated policies which will mitigate the otherwise severe consequences of abandoning direct support for family farms and rural businesses.’
The English transition will undoubtedly have an effect on the FUW’s cross-border members who farm land in both England and Wales, and the FUW would urge Defra to urgently revise its policies in order to protect English and cross-border rural communities.