Food production

A letter written by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in 1917 has resurfaced online to reflect the national interest of growing food at home in a world filled with geopolitical uncertainty

Laura Greenman, of HCR Law, said: "While the Framework focuses on planning, energy and infrastructure, little consideration has been given to food security"

Simon Britton, of Knight Frank, said struggling 'upland farmers' could benefit from a redesign of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme but arable and lowland livestock farms may need to 'reconsider expectations'

Exmoor farmer Robin Milton said ‘trust and confidence in SFI had been wrecked' and it would take ‘some exceptionally good assurance' before many farmers would trust integrating it into their business again

In today's Farming in Five, chief reporter Rachael Brown reports on the latest from the fallout of the Sustainable Farming Incentive closure. Defra is under scrutiny over its failure to give farmers' notice as the industry questions whether all the budget has been spent. She also looks ahead to next week, a special podcast on Donald Trump, tariffs and what this means for machinery markets and UK farming going forward and the livestock team are heading to Borderway UK Dairy Expo at Carlisle this week, the first dairy show of the year

Wildfarmed's Andy Cato writes on Defra's SFI24 closure, why it is vital that farmers receive support for their efforts in nature and climate recovery, and why nature-rich food production should be seen as the most valuable of investments rather than a subsidy by Government

Mr Dunn said: "Out of the £2.4 billion of budget allocated for the full panoply of schemes under the Agricultural Transition Plan, we need to know how much has been allocated to each element"

Orkney & Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael says Groceries Code Adjudicator has not done enough to protect food producers

SFI24 now has more than 37,000 multi-year live agreements and has reached its ‘maximum limit' and can no longer accept new SFI applications from today