Suffolk farmers say climate action is 30 years too late
It's as applications for the government’s Sustainable Farming Incentive have reopened, after abruptly stopping in March
A Suffolk farmer says a sudden pause to a key government farming scheme has knocked the confidence of many in the agricultural sector.
Glenn Buckingham is one of several farmers reacting to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) halting the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) in March with no warning.
He believes the SFI closed back in March was due to an overspend from the government, "There’s been an overspend in the last six to nine months of last year, especially, and the budget was really out of control and they had to stop it.
“They’re supposed to give six weeks’ notice, and they didn’t. They just did it overnight.”
What is the Sustainable Farming Incentive?
The SFI is a government scheme designed to reward farmers for actions that support food production, improve farm resilience, and enhance the environment.
While it has now partially reopened for a limited number of applicants, Buckingham said that it's come too late for many: “Those who had an application sitting on the portal… will be able to now apply… So what we’ve had is like a two and a half month delay or so for those people.”
"People have lost confidence in the scheme"
When asked about the financial cap on claims, Buckingham said:
“Arguably, if you’re capped at £9,300, it’s probably quite insignificant. So the thing will be, some people will simply say, ‘Well, I’m not taking part.’ I’ll farm my way through it.
"There will be no margins around my fields. I won’t look off hedges like I could have done. I may not be sowing pollen and nectar or some wildflower mix or whatever, and just say, I’m not putting up with this because we're simply being messed around.”
“And it makes it rather frustrating and from pillar to post… it is just loss of confidence.”
"30 years too late"
On the wider environmental consequences, Buckingham added: “They are negative in terms of engagement in landscape recovery, nature recovery, etc., across the country.
"And we will see isolated farms that will do their bit and others that will do nothing, and the connectivity for nature won’t be there.
"...so you could argue that the Sustainable Farming Incentive, as far as extremes of weather go, is 30 years too late
"We've got a big catch up game to play and therefore when you think about what's the government's just done to the SFI scheme, it doesn't give us lots of enthusiasm to be part of that journey...
"Whereas the idea was that everyone hopefully would volunteer and take part and they would do something… that would be really good.”
"...It's absolutely frightening. There are still a lot of people who do not believe it's going to happen now, or that it's happening now. They think it's 50 years away. I see no reason why it's not happening now when we look globally at the issues we see.
"Therefore, we are in it and we really ought to wake up."
We asked what changes he would like to see, he said, "We need a plan. Someone needs to get their act together. Fundamentally, we can’t be thrown around like we are.”