Sustainable Farming Incentive - Statement

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 7:57 pm on 18 March 2025.

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Photo of Baroness Hayman of Ullock Baroness Hayman of Ullock The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 7:57, 18 March 2025

As I mentioned earlier, this is not the first time that SFI has been paused. The way the scheme operates is that it opens for applications and, when the funding is used up, it is then paused until we look at the next round of SFI funding. It is difficult to judge when that is likely to come to an end. In response to the noble Lord’s final question, we are aware that the SFI scheme needs reforming, which is what we are now looking at doing. We need to get it right and we need it to work better for farmers and for the environment. That is why, as I mentioned, we will be talking to stakeholders, including those who use the scheme and those who we would like to use it but who perhaps find it difficult to apply to at the moment. I am particularly talking about smaller farms and upland farms; we need to be much more targeted on them. We are aware that we need to reform it, and we are working on that at the moment.