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He added: 鈥淲e have had major concerns for years about whether there was the capability within Defra to deliver the agricultural transition post-Brexit.

鈥淲e have warned time and time again that large parts of the SFI were poorly designed and that the department was consistently failing to deliver it.鈥�

No consultation or communication

Tom expressed his frustration that the 鈥渢errible news鈥� was delivered with only 30 minutes warning before ministers briefed the press, 鈥渓eaving us unable to inform our members鈥�.

Defra has said there will be a 鈥渞eset鈥�, adding that ELMs will remain in place, including SFI, with a 鈥渘ew and improved SFI on offer with details to follow in the Spending Review鈥�.

All existing SFI agreement holders will continue to be paid under the terms of their agreement for its duration.鈥�鈥疶hose who entered into a three-year SFI agreement earlier this year will be paid until 2028.

If you are in the SFI pilot, you will be able to apply when the pilot agreement ends. Defra has said if you were in the agreement and your pilot has ended already, but you do not yet have a live SFI agreement, you will be able to apply.

A loss to farming and the environment

Tom added: 鈥淚t leaves us with little choice but to see Defra as a failing department. The chaos has got worse and worse and farmers are paying the price. Bad decisions, misdirection, promises broken, no transparency and yet more financial disaster for farming.

鈥淲hen the Chancellor dramatically accelerated the end of the old schemes for all farmers, it was on the promise that they would all be able to access the new ones, which paid them for doing environmental work.

鈥淏ut the door has now been slammed shut for thousands of farmers, creating haves and have nots based purely on timing.

鈥淭hey say the money is spent, but because Defra refuses to be transparent we don鈥檛 know where it鈥檚 been spent, or whether it鈥檚 all been spent within this year.

鈥淭he awful dilemma now faced by many farmers is whether to turn their backs on environmental work and just farm as hard as they can to survive. This is a loss to both farming and the environment and cannot be what was intended.

鈥淚t is a bleak irony that we were set to reveal tomorrow that farming confidence in England and Wales has plummeted to its lowest level ever 鈥� lower than last year when those who are now Defra Ministers said it was a scandal and a disaster.鈥�

The NFU鈥檚 annual Farmer Confidence Survey reveals that:

• Short-term confidence (1 year outlook) has decreased 10 points since last year from -25 to -35.
• Mid-term confidence (3 year outlook) has decreased 16 points from -22 to -38.
• Mid-term confidence has remained in negative territory for eight years but has deteriorated sharply over the past two years.

鈥淚f confidence was at rock bottom and investment through the floor yesterday, tomorrow it will be gone entirely,鈥� Tom concluded.

Information for applicants

If you had started an SFI application and not submitted it before applications were closed you will not now be able to submit it.

The only exceptions to this are:

• a small group of farmers who were blocked from submitting their applications due to a system fault
• or those who had requested 鈥榓ssisted digital鈥� support from the RPA to apply, and
• ex-SFI Pilot farmers whose Pilot agreement has already ended, but they haven鈥檛 applied for the full SFI 2024 offer on land which was in their Pilot agreement.

Defra has said that if your agreement expires in October 2026, you may be eligible to apply for the 鈥榬eformed SFI offer鈥� after your current agreement ends.

Defra had previously said the 14 draft endorsed SFI actions would be available to apply from summer 2025 onwards. It has now said these will be considered as part of the work to develop a 鈥榬eformed and more targeted SFI鈥�.

For those who have been offered an agreement, they will need to accept this within 10 working days of it being offered, or else it may be withdrawn.