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Department says December payments will deliver nearly £300m into rural economy

NFU senior countryside adviser, Claire Robinson said farmers had engaged with stewardship Capital Grants which support environmental delivery, ‘to only find the application window is suddenly closed for a review'

New analysis shows hill farmers are only receiving 8% or £39m of the Government's new farming support scheme, the Sustainable Farming Incentive, despite the uplands occupying ‘around 15% of England's area'

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said there are sheep farmers who have 'wholeheartedly thrown themselves into the SFI pilot', whose agreements have now ended with no certainty over continuation into SFI and fears over budget cutbacks

The NFU has expressed ‘extreme concern' to reports the scheme is now unlikely to open until mid-2025

Challenging season plus concern over SFI options deterring farmers, says industry group

This week from Íæż½ã½ã editor Olivia Midgley

The chair of Labour's Climate and Environment Forum Baroness Young said she hoped the ‘multi-functional' land use framework would be operationally ‘sustainable'

Graham Redman, partner at agribusiness consultants The Andersons Centre said the business aspect of farming was pressing on the farming community ‘even more so than ever before', and he urged farmers to look beyond the headline figures on Government environmental schemes, which he said could look appealing but came with ‘obligations' and ‘costs'

Cumbrian sheep farmer and author James Rebanks reflects on his decision to turn down the invite to apply for a non-executive director at Defra