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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the continued suspension of the Sustainable Farming Incentive on farmers.

There are currently record numbers of farmers taking part in farming schemes, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI). As of April 2025, they supported 885,000 hectares of arable land being farmed without insecticides; 330,000 hectares of low input grassland managed sustainably; and 85,000 kilometres of hedgerows protected and restored.

We have allocated a record £11.8bn to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. Overall farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3bn a year through the Farming and Countryside Programme. And up to £400m from additional nature schemes.

Defra is working closely with farmers and industry stakeholders to design a future SFI offer that will better target SFI in an orderly way towards our priorities for food, farming and nature. Further information about the reformed SFI will be provided in due course.