'Absolute farce': Government slammed after latest SFI window closes in five hours

The new SFI, which the previous environment secretary Emma Reynolds claimed would be “simpler, fairer and more stable”, first opened in June for small farms and those without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement.

It pays farmers in England for “public goods” such as insecticide-free farming, wildflower strips and managing ponds and hedgerows.

The second window, for all farms, opened on Tuesday, however the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) closed it in less than six hours as the £233m fund had been completely allocated.

The National Farmers’ Union said it had warned repeatedly that the SFI lacked a “sufficient budget” and “yet again, Defra has created a position where there are the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ in the sector based purely on the speed of pressing a button”.

NFU vice-president Robyn Munt said: “The rapid uptake of the scheme comes as no surprise.

“We have made the demand clear to Defra for some time. Its closure in less than six hours shows the scale of demand there is from farmers to deliver for the environment and to invest in farm resilience.

“The current cashflow pressures facing farmers and growers only exacerbates that demand as they look for certainty and clarity for the year ahead.

“But those that missed out have been left with even greater uncertainty as the sector doesn’t have a commitment from government for SFI27 and access to Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier.

“We have warned Defra for months that the available budget would not meet demand of those farmers wanting to deliver for the environment and sustainable farming.

“The additional funding announced by the Prime Minister in August was welcome, but with thousands of agreements ending this year, it was clear that it wasn’t enough to plug the gap in the budget needed and it fails many who have been committed to such schemes for many years.

She added: “This comes at the same time as the department says it wants a reset with the farming industry.

“Instead, it has further damaged business confidence that is already at rock bottom.”

Shadow Farming Minister Robbie Moore claimed that he was told of lots of issues with the application portal, leading to “weeks of work and planning wasted”.

He described it as an “absolute farce” and said that Labour had pitched “farmers against one and other”.

It is the latest controversy from the Labour government around the SFI and the wider farming industry.

In March 2025, Defra abruptly closed the SFI to new applicants, saying it had allocated its £1bn budget for the year.

Many farmers were in the process of applying when the SFI closed, meaning they faced a cliff edge until the new scheme this year. However, that closed within hours.

On top of this, the Government has been pursuing its controversial inheritance tax policy for agricultural business, despite making a partial U-turn.

A Defra spokesperson said: “This year we ensured small farms and those new to SFI were prioritised - with an exclusive first window in the summer.

“In anticipation of high demand in the second window, Ministers decided to allocate an additional £20m to the fund, on top of the £50m announced by the Prime Minister in August, so that we could fund as many agreements as possible.

“We have therefore allocated a total of £310m to new agreements under both windows.”