The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is a funding scheme which, alongside other ambitious elements of England’s Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs), promised to financially reward farmers for their efforts to farm in a nature-friendly way.

The promise of support through these schemes is vital to enable farmers to lead efforts to tackle the nature and climate crisis. Through nature-friendly practices, farm businesses can become more climate resilient, helping to clean up our rivers and restore nature.

However, yesterday’s Government decision (An update on the Sustainable Farming Incentive – Farming) to pause the SFI without warning has caused significant anger and frustration across the farming sector and means that essential funding for nature-friendly farming practices is no longer accessible to farmers. As it now stands, no single Environmental Land Management scheme is open for application, leaving farmers and landowners without a clear pathway towards sustainable futures.