Farmers’ ‘trust is gone’ with new Government

SCHEME TO BENEFIT ENVIRONMENT AND WORKERS CLOSES

- By CATHERINE LANGSTON

A THANET farmer says trust in the Government has been damaged following the abrupt closure of a flagship environmental farming scheme.

In March, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that this year’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) budget had been fully allocated.

The scheme, which rewards farmers in England for practices that benefit the environment such as reducing pesticide use, planting wildflower margins, and managing ponds and hedgerows was a central part of the Government's post-Brexit Environmental Land Management (ELM) programme.

As a result, Defra stopped accepting new applications for the SFI with immediate effect.