There has been a brief reprieve for a small number of farmers who found their unfinished applications suddenly rejected when the Government announced the overnight closure of the SFI schemes earlier this year.
After legal pressure from the NFU, who fairly argued that DEFRA acted unlawfully by shutting down the scheme without warning, the Government has agreed to allow all those who had started an application in the two months leading up to the 11th March to complete the process and submit their applications.
Unfortunately, the sudden closure of the scheme left thousands of farmers in limbo, with some suffering unexpected financial losses having invested heavily in anticipation of joining the scheme. I understand that restrictions on who can apply, and what they can apply for have been put in place, which will only serve to reduce the number of farmers eligible for the scheme they had come to rely on.
