Don’t miss out on SFI grants, urges NFU leader
A northern NFU leader has given a mixed reaction to this week’s first reopening of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) grants since it abruptly closed last year, and urged fellow farmers to start their applications.
NFU North Regional Board chair William Maughan said the return of SFI funding, initially for farms 50 hectares or less without existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreements, was to be welcomed after a lengthy break.
According to the latest official figures, 58 per cent of farms in the region cover 50 hectares or less.
Defra, which has faced sustained criticism from farming leaders and MPs over damaging industry confidence through its handling of SFI. This has included no notice closures of application windows and budget allocation shortfalls, said the new-look SFI had been designed to be simpler, fairer and more accessible than before.
Officials said some farmers would qualify for both the first window and a second in September, and “may prefer to wait to apply in Window 2 once the new functionality is available”.
A Defra spokesman said: “This will allow you to apply for the full SFI26 offer across land currently covered by your existing agreement, although your SFI26 agreement will start later.”
Usually, farmers with soon-to-expire ELM revenue agreements would not be able to access the full SFI offer until their existing agreement ended.
Mr Maughan praised Defra for improving the SFI26 application service to allow farmers to start their applications before their existing agreements expire.
Defra said the first SFI window was expected to remain open for around two months.
However, if demand is particularly high and the £60 million available for thd window is fully allocated, it could close sooner, officials have warned.
A Defra spokesman said updates would be published when about 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the first SFI window budget had been allocated.
Demand for the scheme is expected to be high. Martin Lines, chief executive of the Nature Friendly Farming Network, said with farmers facing alarming spikes in fuel and fertiliser prices due to war in Iran, the reopening of the window “could not have come at a more crucial time”.
With the available SFI funding being limited, Mr Maughan advised farmers should “look at the scheme and get their applications in promptly”.
The beef, arable and poultry farmer, who has previously missed out on SFI funding due to spending time considering options, said: “There’s another window opening up in September that will be the same.
"I think there will be a lot of interest in it. Later in the year, particularly, it will be existing schemes starting to come to an end, so there’ll be interest from people there too.
"It’s very unfair that there’s potential for people to miss out again. It’s a busy time of year for people to do applications at a time you’re busy making hay, doing silage, you’re getting into harvest, September people could be drilling. It potentially disadvantages the working farmer.”