Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 39920 on Sustainable Farming Incentive: South Suffolk, how many of the 154 farmers primarily farm (a) arable crops, (b) horticultural crops, (c) permanent grass, (d) cattle, (e) sheep & lambs, (f) pigs and (g) poultry.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not hold data on farming business types for the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the Sustainable Farming Incentive has been spent on (a) arable farms and (b) livestock farms in 2024-25.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not require farmers to tell us their farm type (arable, livestock, mixed, etc) so we do not hold information on spend by farm type.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of ending the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme on businesses in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s commitment to our horticulture sector and its vital role in strengthening food security remains steadfast. Our proposed approach to future funding for horticulture will be considered alongside Defra’s work to simplify and rationalise agricultural grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. This includes developing a 25-year Farming Roadmap, which will involve the Government and the industry working together to identify solutions to challenges to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
We recognise the specific needs of the horticulture sector, and Defra ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of growers from across the sector, (including a number of Producer Organisation members), to discuss a wide range of issues to help us understand how best to support sector.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans his Department has to provide future funding to replace the Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government’s commitment to our horticulture sector and its vital role in strengthening food security remains steadfast. Our proposed approach to future funding for horticulture will be considered alongside Defra’s work to simplify and rationalise agricultural grant funding, ensuring that grants deliver the most benefit for food security and nature. This includes developing a 25-year Farming Roadmap, which will involve the Government and the industry working together to identify solutions to challenges to make the sector more profitable in the decades to come.
We recognise the specific needs of the horticulture sector, and Defra ministers and officials meet regularly with a variety of growers from across the sector, (including a number of Producer Organisation members), to discuss a wide range of issues to help us understand how best to support sector.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of the Sustainable Farming Initiative was spent on family-owned farms in financial year 2024-2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We do not hold information on ownership arrangements.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what number and proportion of farms are part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As of 21 March 2024, there are 154 farmers with a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement (SFI Pilot, SFI 23 and SFI EO) in South Suffolk constituency.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the expected return on investment from the Sustainable Farming Incentive.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There are now 37,000 live Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements. This means 4.3 million hectares of land are now in SFI agreements.
As a result, returns on these agreements include:
We are evolving the SFI offer and are exploring ways to better target the money for instance, potentially towards smaller farmers, the least productive land or delivering specific outcomes. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of pausing the Sustainable Farming Incentive for new applications on (a) flood risk and (b) flood management for agricultural land in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
All actions in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) have been assessed for the impact on a number of indicators, including flood risk. By benefiting soil health, many of the actions in SFI will reduce flood risk by increasing infiltration and therefore, reducing run off. These actions will be delivered across tens of thousands of farmers for the next three years. The specific actions to manage flood risk are mainly in Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, which will open in the summer.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to re-open the Sustainable Farming Incentive for new applications for farmers in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government has committed £5 billion over 2 years to sustainable farming and nature recovery and we’ve worked hard to get as many farmers into environmental land management schemes as possible.
We have closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for new applications because the current SFI budget has been successfully allocated, with large-scale uptake of the scheme and 37,000 live SFI agreements delivering towards our environmental targets.
We will be reforming the SFI offer to direct funding towards SFI actions which are most appropriate for the least productive land and have the strongest case for enduring public investment. This will allow us to align SFI with our work on the Land Use Framework and the 25-year farming roadmap to protect the most productive land and boost food security, whilst delivering for nature.
We expect to publish more information about the reformed SFI offer in summer 2025. This will include an indication of when we expect to re-open SFI for applications.
We invite farmers from South Suffolk to follow our blog to keep updated on the latest news.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to assist farmers to mitigate the impact of the loss of Sustainable Farming Incentive payments in South Suffolk constituency.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is proud to have secured the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, with £5 billion being spent to support farmers over a 2-year period.
Defra has closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive for the submission of new applications, existing agreements will continue. Every penny in all existing SFI agreements will be paid to farmers, and outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will be processed.
We will provide further details about the reformed SFI offer once the Spending Review has been completed.
SFI is an important offer, but it is part of a wider package. We recognise farmers need clarity and certainty and we remain committed to investing in agri-environment schemes, and to supporting the farming sector, including those in the South Suffolk constituency.
We plan to launch the new Higher Tier scheme later this year; Capital Grants will re-open in summer 2025; we continue to move forward with Landscape Recovery; and we are increasing payment rates for Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement holders to recognise their ongoing commitment to delivering environmental outcome.
The budget for future years will be set in phase 2 of the SR.