Funding frenzy adds to pressure on worried farmers

A farmer said it was "very, very worrying" to miss out on funding from a new government scheme to support green projects.

Lex Brun from Great Massingham in Norfolk said he hoped to get £100,000 from the Sustainable Farming Initiative (SFI), but applications closed down in less than six hours.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said Brun was one of many unsuccessful farmers and may now have to cut back on environmental schemes.

While the government said there would be more funding next year, farming minister Stephen Morgan said he had "heard" concerns and that lessons would be learned.

The SFI is a post-Brexit scheme that replaced EU subsidies with payments to landowners for environmentally-friendly land management.

It gives money to farmers who have turned parts of their land over to schemes such as planting hedges, creating wildflower margins and protecting the soil.

This year's fund offered £253m in total, with applications opening at 10:00 BST on Tuesday 22 September, but the money ran out by 15:48 the same day.

"It was unprecedented for it to be such a scramble, it's been likened to getting tickets for an Oasis concert," said Brun, whose crops include wheat, barley and oilseed rape.

本文の著作権はBBCにあります。