NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “We have repeatedly highlighted our concerns about an underspend and at long last we now have an honest admission of Defra's failure. A £358 million underspend over three years is unacceptable and nothing short of a kick in the teeth to farmers and growers who have faced years of uncertainty and loss of income during the agricultural transition.
“Let’s be clear, this underspend hasn’t happened because the investment isn’t needed. It’s happened because the schemes to replace the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) have not been completed in time and there are still many gaps and questions unanswered. We have flagged problems with the new Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes from day one and, despite some improvements, there is a still big gap in spending as the money saved from the continued BPS reductions has sat gathering dust.
“For years, the NFU has pressed the need for the new schemes to be in place before reductions in BPS began to avoid this very issue and avoid funding being left unspent at a time when farmers needed it most.
“Twelve months ago, when there were further issues with the rollout of the new schemes, we were a lone voice calling for reductions in BPS to be paused. It wasn’t, and yet farmers and growers continued to face record inflation levels and devastating weather events. We’re now seeing the consequences as confidence in the sector has collapsed.
“The risk this cumulative lost income poses to the viability of farm businesses, through no fault of their own, is well known. Recent research showed that, on average, upland businesses had lost 37% of their support payments under the 2023 scheme options, despite the public goods they deliver for the nation.
“In opposition, the Food Security Minister said that any underspend in agricultural funding should be rolled over into future years and asked for clarity from Defra about how this would be done. We now ask for the same thing: for government to carry this much-needed funding forward so it can finally be put to its intended use – building resilience, investing in sustainable homegrown food production and delivering the government’s legislated environmental targets.”