Agriculture: Subsidies
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the level of administrative burdens faced by farmers applying for support schemes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
The changes being made to SFI26 (Sustainable Farming Incentive) have come after substantial stakeholder engagement and are designed to make the scheme simpler, more accessible, and improve value for money.
The SFI26 offer will have 71 actions, compared with 102 actions in SFI24. Defra has aimed for a package of actions which is simpler, whilst giving plenty of choice to farmers, keeping the scheme attractive, and helping to support sustainable food production.
Other changes such as limiting each farm business to have only one SFI26 agreement will allow available funding to be spread across as many farmers as possible. Actions previously set at 5-years duration will turn into 3-year actions in SFI26, making the scheme simpler and more accessible for short-term tenant farmers.
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