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Farmers may turn their backs on environmental work for more intensive food production after the government suddenly closed a green funding scheme, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has warned.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which pays farmers in England to manage land to protect soil, restore hedgerows and boost nature recovery, was a key part of the post-Brexit payment scheme that replaced EU subsidies.
The government said SFI had been a success, with 37,000 funding agreements agreed, but it would not accept any new applications. No replacement has been announced.
Tom Bradshaw, NFU president, said that it was “another shattering blow to English farms”.
Mr Bradshaw said the sudden closure would force farmers to decide “whether to turn their backs on environmental work and just farm as hard as they can to survive”.
Organic arable farmer Anna Biesty, who has a 300-hectare farm on the north Norfolk coast, said she was planning to apply for SFI funding and its closure means she now faces a £140,000 shortfall in her future income.
She told BBC News she is now “angry, frustrated and apprehensive about the future”.
“You spend time making plans based on the best information you have but then that plan I made is now pointless. It’s a waste of time and that must be multiplied all around the country, whether it’s farmers or nature charities who are managing land and using similar schemes.
“It just feels like we are
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