The Changing Face of Farm Support
Farmers and landowners find themselves in a new landscape where actual government support is painfully thin on the ground. With BPS phasing out completely over the next couple of years, and the lack of schemes available for applicants the situation is unsettling.
Currently there are no applications available for any scheme that might provide revenue support for farming, and it seems that when schemes are available there is a greater focus on the environment than agriculture.
While the Sustainable Farming Incentive has previously provided support for farmers to manage in a certain way, no applications have been available since March 2025, making it nearly a whole year without any form of land-based support revenue for farmers. This has obviously affected potential cash flow for farmers who would be seeking additional support for delivery of environmental benefits to their land. In addition, the roll out for Higher Tier agreements has been painfully slow.
The lack of support shows a contempt for farmers and fails to recognise the immense value they are to our country. Farmers don’t just deliver high quality food but are the stewards of the landscapes we love. They are at the forefront of delivery of the protection of the environment and water quality.
That said, there has been some movement on schemes. At the Oxford Farming Conference earlier this month, the Secretary of State announced that SFI would open for applications for certain farms in June, over a year from when they closed applications, and then for others in September. This is a peeled back version of what we've seen previously, with potential caps on the total area in an agreement for certain options and a potential overall cap on the agreement value.
These caps are potentially detrimental to any farmer with a large holding who is seeking to deliver environmental benefits whilst farming across their land. At the current time we have no detail of what the new scheme will look like and do not expect to receive this until summer 2026 at the earliest. Within the past year, we have had grants for investment in productivity and animal welfare, but these had short application windows and now only appear to roll around once a year at the most.
Going forward, I would expect the Government to rely more on current legislation and enforcement to ensure compliance and best practice, rather than providing the incentive of options and grant schemes. For example, SFI-funded soil assessments on farm could be removed because the Farming Rules for Water regulations require any land on which muck or fertiliser is spread needs to be regularly soil tested and have a soil management plan in place, both of which farmers will have to self-fund.
There are obviously specific sites and locations where there is a much greater need for Government support, which has been recognised by Defra following Hilary Cottam's recent review. The uplands particularly are in need of more agricultural support because of the additional benefits they deliver in terms of managing water quality, habitat, wildlife, and the environment often in protected sites and National Landscape and Parks.
There is a risk that government policy is seeking to change the way that the landscapes that many people know and love will disappear. Amongst some, there’s an increasing desire to see a significant increase in tree planting, but not all landscapes suit having trees on a large scale, and not every member of the public wants to visit their favourite viewpoint and find themselves standing in a forest.
Our British farmers are an essential asset to both our food security and the production of high-quality food, but also as stewards of the much loved landscapes. The UK Government should be supporting our agricultural sector both financially and with greater advocacy for British agriculture and food. They should not sell us out in trade deals to other nations with lower standards.
Given the Government’s reluctance to provide sensible support, all farming enterprises need to think carefully about their business going forward. They need to plan and manage it in a way that doesn't rely on Government support. It’s possible the Government could withdraw funding to farms altogether, a move which would seriously damage our nation, our food security, environment, ecology, landscapes, food quality, and so much more.
