Today, Thursday 11th June, Government announces the budget for the next Sustainable Farming Incentive. Although the headline figure of £290m is encouraging, £60m for new agreements (Window 1) will not yet drive new nature-friendly farming actions at the scale needed for wildlife recovery. Please find a reaction below from Wildlife and Countryside Link, the largest environmental coalition in England.
Richard Benwell, Chief Executive of Wildlife and Countryside Link, says:
“It's good to see Defra putting funding allocations on the table before the scheme opens. Farmers need certainty to plan ahead, especially as existing agreements come to an end, and a cleaner, simpler route into environmental schemes should help build confidence in tumultuous times.
“Nevertheless, the numbers announced today don't yet match the Government's ambitions for nature friendly farming. With thousands of mid-tier stewardship agreements expiring later this year, the risk is that demand will outstrip supply, with most money maintaining existing work rather than bringing more farms onboard with nature-friendly agriculture.
“The long-term answer isn't simply to spread limited funding more thinly. The Government should focus future funds on bringing whole farm operations into nature-friendly production, while steadily increasing investment in the higher-value options that restore habitats, recover wildlife and improve rivers, soils and climate resilience. It's encouraging to see additional support for Higher Tier agreements, but this needs to be the start of a much bigger shift that sees thousands more farms benefiting from well-paid, long-term contracts for the bravest nature-recovery actions.”
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