Support for Farmers

Olly Glover Excerpts

Wednesday 21st October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Olly Glover (Didcot and Wantage) (LD)]

Food and good land stewardship for nature, environment protection and, indeed, our enjoyment are not luxuries, but essentials. Agriculture has enormous economic potential: the industry supports 334,000 jobs in the agriculture labour force alone and sits at the centre of the wider agrifood industry, which is worth more than £153 billion. Agriculture also supports many other industries, such as feed, energy, fertiliser, chemicals, logistics and professional services, with £20.9 billion of intermediate inputs, yet the sector seems to be treated as a luxury, rather than as something totally essential to everything that we need in our country to succeed, and farmers do not get the attention and consistent and coherent support from Government that they deserve.

Even before the latest sustainable farming incentive farce, farmers in my Oxfordshire constituency already faced so many challenges and headwinds. Given their role in causing many of those problems, it is rather concerning that the Conservatives seem to be suffering from more amnesia than was portrayed in Christopher Nolan’s “Memento”.

The challenges faced by farmers include: the current Labour Government’s agricultural and business property tax relief changes; the uncertainty and impact of Brexit; trade deals based on proving the so-called benefits of Brexit, no matter the impact on our farmers; constantly changing Government incentive and payment regimes; the impact of recent worldwide inflation on fertiliser prices and equipment costs, now made even worse as a result of Trump’s idiotic middle east war; labour shortages also as a result of Brexit; pressures from the supply chain driving down prices for produce; and the worsening impact of climate change, which we have seen particularly gravely this year.

[Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)]

I would like to add one more thing to that list of Conservative disasters. The underspending of the farming budget by more than £350 million has led to this disgraceful situation where the SFI has seen a huge demand because our farmers are scared that that will happen again. Will my hon. Friend join me in urging the Minister to commit that the budget will not be underspent by this Government?

[Olly Glover]

I do join my hon. Friend in calling for that. It was a shame that that, too, was missing from the shadow Minister’s speech.

When designing the sustainable farming initiative and the system for allocating it, it would appear that the Ministers and officials concerned may have spent too much time here in Parliament, where Members wanting to get slots for some types of Bill have to become proficient in efficient use of Microsoft Outlook. That is similar to the bidding contest for SFI, which becomes as much about mastering process, IT savviness and a race against the clock as about the substance. This is a particular problem for smaller farms, where farmers will often have to be out on their land and not sat at their computer at a time convenient for DEFRA.

[Calum Miller]

My hon. Friend is making a good case about the shortcomings of the SFI system. One of my farmers told me this week that he is facing a choice between seeking SFI for direct drilling and seeking SFI for preserving waterways by having a grass verge before we get to the waterway. Does he agree that pitting carbon sequestration against the protection of our waterways from nitrate is not a good way to proceed and that we should instead be supporting both these environmental objectives through the allocation of the SFI funds in future rounds?

[Olly Glover]

My hon. Friend has clearly been listening carefully to farmers in his constituency and makes some strong points.

The Government have said that SFI will be offered again in 2027 and that it will work with farming organisations on potential changes to the scheme. However, a timetable, budget and detailed arrangements for SFI 2027 have yet to be announced. As well as ending the bidding war process for SFI, they need to move beyond an annual settlement. Investment in farms and agriculture is not an annual exercise. It is a multi-year and often multi-decade labour of love that requires hard work, forward planning and long-term thinking. That is why the Government should look at some good practice that they have implemented elsewhere, such as moving to multi-year local government funding settlements, and embrace the same approach for SFI.

The Government have an opportunity to in part make amends in the forthcoming Budget, and I hope that it is one that they will seize. There are many requests from the sector for the Budget, and I will talk about three briefly. One is to increase the annual investment allowance to at least £5 million and extend its scope to include assets qualifying for the structures and buildings allowance. This would support longer-term investments in efficiency and productivity improvements, including with regard to energy and water usage. The annual investment allowance allows businesses to reduce their tax bill by deducting the full cost of qualifying purchases—plant and machinery—from their profits. Currently, such buildings and fixed structures do not qualify for AIA and instead generally qualify for the structures and buildings allowance, which provides relief at 3% per annum on qualifying expenditure. This does not incentivise investment in farm buildings when other forms of investment are relieved at a much faster rate. Similar reliefs are offered in competitor countries. For example, in Ireland such farm buildings can be written off over a period of seven years, and in the USA 100% relief is currently available for five-year periods.

Our second ask of the Government relates to what we have already said about the approach to the carbon border adjustment mechanism introduction. The National Farmers’ Union estimates that fertiliser inclusion in UK CBAM will add up to £70 per metric tonne in extra costs.

Finally, the Government could provide or underwrite the capital required for a temporary programme of interest-free farm crisis loans. That would really help the sector as it is suffering from current crises to do with inflation. It could be delivered through accredited commercial lenders and targeted at viable agricultural businesses that are suffering temporary cash flow pressure because of the current situation. I hope that the Government will listen to those requests and use the Budget to help our farmers and get SFI in a much better state for 2027.