Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the Farming Resilience Fund beyond March 2025, in the context of phasing out the Basic Payment Scheme.

The Farming Resilience Fund (FRF) was developed to help farmers through the early years of the Agricultural Transition, specifically to assist farm businesses to adapt to the initial reductions in the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) by providing specialist business advice. BPS was replaced in England with delinked payments in 2024. We plan to pay delinked payments each year from 2024 to 2027, and the amount received will decrease each year as we apply progressive reductions.

To date, over 25,000 farmers have received 1-2-1 support. The FRF will conclude March 2025. Farmers yet to receive any support are therefore encouraged to contact the organisations listed on gov.uk before the end of December 2024.

Defra has received feedback suggesting many participants have recognised the value of the advice provided and it is our hope that many of the relationships and connections built through the FRF will continue beyond the scheme's official end date.

In the Budget announced in October, the Government announced £5 billion for the farming budget over two years - the largest ever directed at sustainable food production and nature’s recovery in our country’s history. As we continue to optimise our schemes, Defra will carefully consider the findings from the FRF, alongside other advisory programs, to shape what any future support offer might look like.