Oral Answers to Questions

Martin Wrigley Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Martin Wrigley (Newton Abbot) (LD)]

1. What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the application process for the sustainable farming incentive 2026.

[The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dame Angela Eagle)]

The sustainable farming incentive scheme that we inherited from the Conservatives was complicated and skewed towards the biggest farms. We have made it fairer and more focused, and this year we ran two application windows, received nearly 19,000 applications and allocated £310 million per year for the next three years. We will open SFI27 as early as we can, and we will work with farmers to see what we can do to change it, including considering alternatives to the first come, first served basis.

[Martin Wrigley]

Yesterday, we heard in this Chamber many of the shortcomings of this year’s SFI window 2. Just one week after it closed, I visited Ross and Ginny Thomson at Smallacombe farm in my Newton Abbot constituency and their successful herd of milking goats. They described the SFI process as a fiasco. With 40 days and 40 nights of rain, the driest summer on record, multiple heatwaves, plagues of midges spreading bluetongue and now severe drought and yellow warnings of our first named storm, what will the Government do to help Devon’s farmers adapt to the changing climate?

[Dame Angela Eagle]

Farmers are bearing the costs of extreme weather, which is why we are supporting them with an extra £65 million to tackle drought, protect crops and build resilience, alongside grants for new technology to boost productivity. For as many farms as possible to benefit from the SFI, we gave small farms a priority in window 1 this year and we have allocated £310 million per year—nearly £1 billion for the next three years—for the scheme. The Government will also invest up to £15 million to help farmers and growers build on-farm reservoirs.