Editor’s View: Defra’s disciples have spread far and wide
© Philip Case/MAG To have the right to criticise an institution, and be listened to, you also have to give praise where it is due.
So in that spirit I want to say this about Defra: The politicians and senior civil servants within the department deserve a lot of credit for how visible they have made themselves this year.
There was barely a county show or significant event this summer where they were not in attendance, and Defra secretary Therese Coffey told me this week that every rural MP has had the offer of a roadshow in their constituency where they can bring their farmers to meet officials.
See also: How a regen farm is reducing inputs to meet SFI targets
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Farmers who have not had the offer yet should ask their MP what is taking them so long.
This week I met with the secretary of state. Going into Defra HQ is a reminder of why it is important for officials responsible for farming and rural affairs to leave their desks and get out and understand the countryside for themselves.
The department is literally a fortress. Airport-style security before you get to reception. Guards watching your every move. An escort ushering you through the hallways.
All of these things are necessary to stop the mad and bad from attacking. But how tempting it must be to luxuriate behind steel doors and bulletproof glass in the Westminster bubble rather than get out and see what impact policy you enacted with a stroke of a pen is having on the ground.
None of that is to say they have delivered everything that farmers want this year. I hope that officials will be out in droves to meet farmers affected by flooding and ask again whether they are doing absolutely everything in their power to manage and mitigate its impact.
Every conversation had face-to-face, every pressing question answered and every criticism fronted up to is surely worth at least two dozen pieces of bland correspondence.
Along with the significantly increased payment rates and falling commodity prices, such personal interaction is a key reason why so many farmers in England have now started taking a hard look at whether they should enter the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme.
Updated figures this week show that 15,000 of you formally submitted an expression of interest before applications opened fully several weeks ago, with close to 1,000 contracts now agreed – and some payments are already out of the door.
Contrast that with the gloom of much of 2022, when the narrative was that it was a pitiful scheme not worth taking the trouble to engage with.
Now my chief worry about the policy is whether it will squeeze out those on farm business tenancies as landowners instead choose the lower risk option of hedge-to-hedge environmental schemes.
This week at the Northern Farming Conference, Defra sent not one but two disciples to spread the good news. Minister Lord Benyon was bristling with good humour saying that he wanted the application process to be “the best 35 minutes of your year”.
Civil servant Janet Hughes, responsible for the SFI’s delivery, was also speaking from the podium and emphasised again that the department remains open to criticism and feedback – which is also always welcome on our letters pages.
It was pleasing to hear that one of her priorities remains ensuring there are sufficient options on offer for the uplands, with a broader menu of actions to choose from expected in the coming months.
Actions speak louder than words, but words really matter.