Defra has been slammed for hiring a farming champion to ‘safeguard nature’, ‘sustain the rural economy’ and ‘support farmers’ days after suspending a vital subsidy scheme which did all of the above.
The next ‘Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector’ will earn £117,800 per year for three days work a week, all of which can be worked from home.
This goes alongside a massive pension employer contribution of 28.9 per cent, meaning taxpayers will be paying £34,126 a year into the Commissioner’s pension.
It comes after the suspension of the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) yesterday, a move that has left the farming community in despair and has been labelled the ‘cruellest betrayal of farmers to date’.
The scheme, which was suspended with no warning yesterday, plays a vital role in farmers’ budgets and business plans, paying farmers up to £3,000 per action for things like improving soil and maintaining hedgerows while growing high quality food for the nation.
But farmers who had been working on their applications for weeks suddenly found Defra was rejecting their application yesterday.
This was despite the fact Labour promised to support the scheme pre-election and earlier assurances from Defra that farmers would have six weeks’ notice before any changes to the scheme.
The move has sparked outcry from farmers who are asking whether the government is committing deliberate cruelty on a section of society who have historically voted Conservative, or whether it is simple incompetence.
Labour has defended the move by citing financial pressures, namely that they ‘inherited an uncapped scheme’ but have a ‘finite farming budget’.
Stuart Maggs, fellow of Agricultural Law Association, suggested Labour is being motivated by ideology.
“In parliament yesterday Daniel Zeichner (Defra Minister of State) confirmed that he has known about this [financial] cliff edge for 5 years, and waved away criticism that closing the SFI scheme should be considered a sudden move,” said Maggs.
“If we take him at his word, then this means in the 8 months since he assumed office he has deliberately done nothing about this issue.
“He has allowed farmers to put in a huge amount of effort and money preparing for SFI applications, knowing that some of them won't make it.
“He felt it was more important to avoid a rush of applications than to warn people, say in October last year, that applications would be cut off.
“It means he has been having review meetings on the issue, where they decide not to close the scheme as it approaches 70%, 80%, 90% of capacity, while his team prepared changes to the website so it could be shut on a moment's notice.
“It meant the system had been promising to give six weeks' notice to applicants before closure knowing that was false.
“Rather than the SFI debacle being a badly managed mess, it suggests deliberate cruelty.
“What sort of person keeps encouraging people to get into line for environmental projects knowing he is going to slam the door in their face?
“If the sudden closure of the scheme was "working as intended", what does that say about their regard for farmers?”
Tory MP Robbie Moore, Shadow Farming Minister, said: “After evading most of our questions yesterday on Labour’s damaging decision on SFI applications, the Farming Minister [Zeichner] eventually admitted that the decision was made “last night based on many, many months following the budget
“Politics aside, this is pure administrative incompetence. Something fishy is going on.
“SFI 24 only became available through a phased roll out during early summer 2024 and only fully rolled out to everyone from the 12 November 2024.
“If this decision was based on ‘many months of projections’ why not at the very least give farmers the 6 weeks' notice they were promised?
“The mask has slipped even further. Our farmers are right to be absolutely outraged.”
Maggs also wondered whether the suspension of SFI with no warning was even legal as Defra had assured farmers they would have six weeks' notice before changes were made.
“There are laws around Legitimate Expectation, where a public body promises in a clear statement to do something, and it is relied upon,” he explained.
“It's never cut and dried, but this seems pretty clear. I'd be interested to see where this ends up, but Victoria Atkins should be asking about this in Parliament.”
Country Land and Business Association President Victoria Vyvyan also believes the move is vindictive and ideologically driven.
"SFI was the most ambitious, forward thinking and environmentally friendly agricultural policy seen anywhere in the world - it promised a fairer future for farmers and a greener future for the world,” she said.
“Labour promised to support it, but at the first available opportunity they have instead scrapped it.
“Of all the betrayals so far, this is the cruellest. It actively harms nature. It actively harms the environment.
"And, with war once again raging in Europe, to actively harm our food production is reckless beyond belief.”
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For farmers, the suspension of SFI is the latest in a series of ‘body blows’ from Labour that includes slashing inheritance tax relief.
From April 2026, farmers’ assets over £1million will be taxed at 20 per cent, a move farmers have said will wipe out profits and lead to many farmers selling up, damaging food security.
Asset-rich but cash-poor farmers say Labour is blinded by ideology and that assets like land and machinery only make you wealthy if they are sold.
They point to Defra statistics that show 17 per cent of farms didn't make a profit in 2023, despite farmers regularly working 70-hour weeks in all weather conditions and often alone.
They argue inheritance tax should be apply if someone inherits a farm tax free and then sells it, rather than at the point of inheriting it.
Reacting, cereal farmer from Cheshire Olly Harrison said: “The motivation to go full French farmers is at 100% now.
“Agriculture will not take this kicking anymore. Bean counters should not run countries or businesses.
“They have an analytical mindset that doesn’t understand what motivates someone to invest and grow the economy and grow food.
“April will be very interesting.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “This government recognises that food security is national security, and tenant farmers are essential to our country’s food production.
“The Commissioner’s role will be to improve collaboration between tenant farmers, landowners and their advisors, acting as an advocate for tenant farmers to help ensure fairness in the tenant farming sector.
“We’ve been clear that our support for farmers remains steadfast - that’s why we are investing £5 billion into farming, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, and going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.”
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The next ‘Commissioner for the Tenant Farming Sector’ will earn £117,800 per year for three days work a week, all of which can be worked from home.
This goes alongside a massive pension employer contribution of 28.9 per cent, meaning taxpayers will be paying £34,126 a year into the Commissioner’s pension.
It comes after the suspension of the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI) yesterday, a move that has left the farming community in despair and has been labelled the ‘cruellest betrayal of farmers to date’.
The scheme, which was suspended with no warning yesterday, plays a vital role in farmers’ budgets and business plans, paying farmers up to £3,000 per action for things like improving soil and maintaining hedgerows while growing high quality food for the nation.
But farmers who had been working on their applications for weeks suddenly found Defra was rejecting their application yesterday.
This was despite the fact Labour promised to support the scheme pre-election and earlier assurances from Defra that farmers would have six weeks’ notice before any changes to the scheme.
The move has sparked outcry from farmers who are asking whether the government is committing deliberate cruelty on a section of society who have historically voted Conservative, or whether it is simple incompetence.
Labour has defended the move by citing financial pressures, namely that they ‘inherited an uncapped scheme’ but have a ‘finite farming budget’.
Stuart Maggs, fellow of Agricultural Law Association, suggested Labour is being motivated by ideology.
“In parliament yesterday Daniel Zeichner (Defra Minister of State) confirmed that he has known about this [financial] cliff edge for 5 years, and waved away criticism that closing the SFI scheme should be considered a sudden move,” said Maggs.
“If we take him at his word, then this means in the 8 months since he assumed office he has deliberately done nothing about this issue.
“He has allowed farmers to put in a huge amount of effort and money preparing for SFI applications, knowing that some of them won't make it.
“He felt it was more important to avoid a rush of applications than to warn people, say in October last year, that applications would be cut off.
“It means he has been having review meetings on the issue, where they decide not to close the scheme as it approaches 70%, 80%, 90% of capacity, while his team prepared changes to the website so it could be shut on a moment's notice.
“It meant the system had been promising to give six weeks' notice to applicants before closure knowing that was false.
“Rather than the SFI debacle being a badly managed mess, it suggests deliberate cruelty.
“What sort of person keeps encouraging people to get into line for environmental projects knowing he is going to slam the door in their face?
“If the sudden closure of the scheme was "working as intended", what does that say about their regard for farmers?”
Tory MP Robbie Moore, Shadow Farming Minister, said: “After evading most of our questions yesterday on Labour’s damaging decision on SFI applications, the Farming Minister [Zeichner] eventually admitted that the decision was made “last night based on many, many months following the budget
“Politics aside, this is pure administrative incompetence. Something fishy is going on.
“SFI 24 only became available through a phased roll out during early summer 2024 and only fully rolled out to everyone from the 12 November 2024.
“If this decision was based on ‘many months of projections’ why not at the very least give farmers the 6 weeks' notice they were promised?
“The mask has slipped even further. Our farmers are right to be absolutely outraged.”
Maggs also wondered whether the suspension of SFI with no warning was even legal as Defra had assured farmers they would have six weeks' notice before changes were made.
“There are laws around Legitimate Expectation, where a public body promises in a clear statement to do something, and it is relied upon,” he explained.
“It's never cut and dried, but this seems pretty clear. I'd be interested to see where this ends up, but Victoria Atkins should be asking about this in Parliament.”
Country Land and Business Association President Victoria Vyvyan also believes the move is vindictive and ideologically driven.
"SFI was the most ambitious, forward thinking and environmentally friendly agricultural policy seen anywhere in the world - it promised a fairer future for farmers and a greener future for the world,” she said.
“Labour promised to support it, but at the first available opportunity they have instead scrapped it.
“Of all the betrayals so far, this is the cruellest. It actively harms nature. It actively harms the environment.
"And, with war once again raging in Europe, to actively harm our food production is reckless beyond belief.”
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For farmers, the suspension of SFI is the latest in a series of ‘body blows’ from Labour that includes slashing inheritance tax relief.
From April 2026, farmers’ assets over £1million will be taxed at 20 per cent, a move farmers have said will wipe out profits and lead to many farmers selling up, damaging food security.
Asset-rich but cash-poor farmers say Labour is blinded by ideology and that assets like land and machinery only make you wealthy if they are sold.
They point to Defra statistics that show 17 per cent of farms didn't make a profit in 2023, despite farmers regularly working 70-hour weeks in all weather conditions and often alone.
They argue inheritance tax should be apply if someone inherits a farm tax free and then sells it, rather than at the point of inheriting it.
Reacting, cereal farmer from Cheshire Olly Harrison said: “The motivation to go full French farmers is at 100% now.
“Agriculture will not take this kicking anymore. Bean counters should not run countries or businesses.
“They have an analytical mindset that doesn’t understand what motivates someone to invest and grow the economy and grow food.
“April will be very interesting.”
A Defra spokesperson said: “This government recognises that food security is national security, and tenant farmers are essential to our country’s food production.
“The Commissioner’s role will be to improve collaboration between tenant farmers, landowners and their advisors, acting as an advocate for tenant farmers to help ensure fairness in the tenant farming sector.
“We’ve been clear that our support for farmers remains steadfast - that’s why we are investing £5 billion into farming, the largest budget for sustainable food production in our country’s history, and going further with reforms to boost profits for farmers by backing British produce and reforming planning rules on farms to support food production.”
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