The wealthiest farmers in England may soon be ineligable to apply for post-Brexit nature funding due to plans under consideration by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
Farming associations and climate experts caution that such a policy would disadvantage farmers and hinder the United Kingdom’s goal of attaining net zero emissions by 2050.Environment Secretary Steve Reed has announced this week that the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a program that compensates farmers for setting aside space for nature on their land, will be paused and revised before the review of expenditures in June.
The SFI is part of a series of payments that replaced the EU’s common agricultural policy and paid land managers for the area of land under their management. This was intended to encourage farmers to preserve nature, soil, and other public benefits, rather than solely for farming and landowning.
However, Defra views the current scheme as too expansive and financed too quickly, as payments are given on a “first come, first served” basis. This system seems to favor farms with agents who can efficiently file paperwork, and it leads to more productive farms exhausting the funds by engaging in activities like creating grassy verges and spreading wild birdseed. The goal is to redirect funding to less affluent but environmentally rich farms that could make a more significant positive impact on the environment.
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers’ Union, fears that this could leave certain farms without access to funding and hinder their contributions to environmental conservation.
On the other hand, some believe that targeting the funding towards less affluent farmers could lead to a more sustainable practice of farming in the UK. They argue that these farmers, who cannot solely make a profit from food production, are often crucial to environmental preservation and should receive more support from the government.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/14/richest-farmers-in-england-may-lose-sustainability-funding-in-defra-review
