Is Labour's relationship with farmers beyond repair?

Justified or not, many British farmers feel under siege, and their concerns are widely shared by a sympathetic public.

- S E A N O ' G R A D Y

Since Brexit they’ve had to cope with new free trade deals, notably with Australia and New Zealand, which threaten to undercut them, pricing pressure from the big supermarkets, the proposed move to reduce the inheritance tax exemption on agricultural assets, and the transition from support payments from the EU Common Agriculture Policy to UK- designed environmental land management schemes (ELMs). Now one of the main ELMs, the sustainable farming incentive (SFI) is to be closed. Tom Bradshaw, the National Farmers’ Union president, said it was “another shattering blow to English farms”. Trouble ahead, then…

What is the SFI?

The scheme pays farmers in England (to manage land to protect soil, restore hedgerows and boost nature recovery, and was an important component of post-Brexit farm support. There are about 37,000 SFI agreements in continuing operation – covering some 800,000 hectares of arable land now being cultivated without insecticides; 300,000 hectares of low-impact sustainable grassland; and 75,000 km of hedgerows protected and restored for wildlife and visual amenity.

What’s gone wrong?