It's something but it's not enough - nature-friendly farmers need more support

The Countryside Regeneration Trust has responded to DEFRA's announcement on the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

And while we welcome the announcement following months of uncertainty, it’s still not enough for farmers, especially those who make nature-friendly farming their priority. 

The announcement has confirmed 71 actions capped at £100,000 will be available to small and medium farms from June. 

The CRT’s Head of Conservation Helena Darragh said she is disappointed by the lack of grassland options, with only low input grassland prioritised and no options for priority habitat species-rich grassland. 

She said: “Payments for herbal leys have decreased, with the Government citing ‘food production’ reasons, and there are no options to restore grasslands that have the potential to become species-rich. This could risk grassland areas being converted to herbal leys rather than being restored to species-rich grassland habitat. 
 
“Herbal leys do remain a useful part of mixed farming and offer greater biodiversity benefits than monocrop grass leys when used in suitable locations. However, now farmers are unable to access actions which will deliver more for nature, it's shallow SFI or almost impossible for anything else.”

Helena Darragh, Head of Conservation at the CRT 

Helena also highlighted that there is no reference to the Local Nature Recovery (LNR) scheme, originally announced as part of ELMS and intended to bridge the gap between the broad, shallow approach of SFI and more bespoke, ambitious Higher Tier schemes. LNR was designed to support farmers who want to deliver more for nature but are not eligible for Higher Tier. 

She said: “Natural England is already overstretched and struggling to deliver Higher Tier for those who want to enter into schemes but with no clear alternative now available, farmers are left asking, where do we go from here? 

“There are also no payments in the new scheme for those who plan to record and assess nutrient use or record hedgerow condition to inform future management, which is important for enhancing wildlife corridors. 
 
“As such, there are limited options for the CRT and its tenants to enter into SFI and so we will be seeking Higher Tier, where we have agreements expiring, to ensure we can continue delivering meaningful, nature-friendly farming across our farms.”