CONSERVATIVE ENVIRONMENT NETWORK REACTS TO THE HALTING OF SFI APPLICATIONS

Kitty Thompson, Senior Nature Programme Manager at the Conservative Environment Network, responded to the government's decision to halt new Sustainable Farming Incentive applications:

“Farmers are the custodians of our countryside. They can and should be playing a vital role in delivering the recovery of British nature. That is what the groundbreaking post-Brexit farm payment schemes were designed, under the Conservatives, to do. Unfortunately, the vital environmental services our farmers provide, alongside food production, seem lost to this Labour government. 

Today’s announcement flies in the face of the original Conservative strategy to ensure as many farmers as possible can farm in a more nature-friendly way. At the exact moment that this scheme reached a critical mass of farmers enrolling, the government has closed it, limiting the number of farmers that can get involved. With trust between farmers and the government now gone, this move raises more questions than it answers about how the government intends to actually deliver on its commitments to support farmers and restore nature. ”