North Yorkshire MPs have hit out at the management of a £253m Government farming scheme that ran out of money in less than a day, leaving thousands of farmers ‘in despair’.
The £253m sustainable farming incentive (SFI) scheme is a Government scheme in England that pays farmers to use eco-friendly farming practices and has replaced the EU’s common agricultural policy.
The scheme opened last Tuesday at 10am and by 4pm on the same day, the Government confirmed that the 2026 SFI scheme was closed for applications, with all of the budget allocated.
The Government has said it plans to offer an SFI scheme in 2027 and will look to open next year’s offer “as early as possible to ensure farmers can access funding”.
Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, said he was “deeply concerned and angry at the way the scheme had been designed, managed, and communicated over the past 18 months," in a letter co-signed by the Shadow Environment Secretary, Victoria Atkins.
Kevin Hollinrake MP.
The letter, addressed to Angela Eagle MP, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, states: “Since Tuesday, our inboxes have been inundated with messages from farmers and advisers in despair over the handling of the scheme.
“We have heard personal accounts of farmers missing out on submitting their applications by mere seconds or because they were busy farming and planning on applying that afternoon or evening; farmers applying for reduced amounts after experiencing system errors because they feared missing the deadline; and advisers being forced to decide which of their clients ‘deserved’ to have their applications prioritised, knowing that others could be left facing serious consequences for their businesses and livelihoods.”
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In a group chat of Labour MPs leaked last week, Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume said she had received messages from farmers claiming that “Labour has sold us down the river”.
This weekend, Ms Hume apologised to her farming constituents for the way the scheme was managed and said she wanted to hear from those impacted in order to “take your experiences back to Westminster to press Defra to improve the process for next time”.
Alison Hume MP in the House of Commons. 09.09.26.
She said: “I’m sorry that we didn’t manage the SFI26 better, especially as we indicated as a government we’d move away from the first come, first served approach.
“I’ve already heard from many farmers and growers who missed out on funding due to the scheme closing either during the application process or before they got in from work to begin it.”
Ms Hume added: “The Government has committed significant funding to SFI26. Farmers will receive almost a third of a billion pounds each year under new SFI26 agreements.
“We have allocated a total of £310 million to new agreements across both application windows.”
A Defra spokesperson recently 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.”