Climate Change

It has been rumoured Defra's budget could be on the ‘chopping block' in the Comprehensive Spending Review

Labour has announced plans to launch its a Food Strategy Advisory Board next week with the aim of building a more resilient, sustainable, and equitable food system in the UK

NI National Sheep Association said with the new SAP, sheep-only farmers are projected to ‘lose a substantial 17% of their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) support’

The Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) grant scheme has been extended until March 2026

Simon Britton, of Knight Frank, said struggling 'upland farmers' could benefit from a redesign of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme but arable and lowland livestock farms may need to 'reconsider expectations'

A Committee report found the approach of Part 1 of the Bill was ‘potentially burdensome and bureaucratic'

Exmoor farmer Robin Milton said ‘trust and confidence in SFI had been wrecked' and it would take ‘some exceptionally good assurance' before many farmers would trust integrating it into their business again

TFA representative George Renner said despite indication from Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner at an ‘emergency' industry roundtable that a ‘stripped back version' of SFI would be available this summer, commitments from the Minister were still ‘very woolly'

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on the latest from the fallout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive closure. Defra is under scrutiny over its failure to give farmers' notice as the industry questions whether all the budget has been spent. She also looks ahead to next week, a special podcast on Donald Trump, tariffs and what this means for machinery markets and UK farming going forward and the livestock team are heading to Borderway UK Dairy Expo at Carlisle this week, the first dairy show of the year

Wildfarmed's Andy Cato writes on Defra's SFI24 closure, why it is vital that farmers receive support for their efforts in nature and climate recovery, and why nature-rich food production should be seen as the most valuable of investments rather than a subsidy by Government