FIGURES across the political divide have condemned the impact that the new system of giving funding to farmers has had on the agricultural sector in the region.

It comes after the funding for a £253-million sustainable farming incentive scheme ran out in a matter of hours.

It is part of a package of payments that were touted as the replacement for the European Union’s common agricultural policy in the aftermath of ‘Brexit’, and was designed by the government to pay farmers to look after nature, soil and other public goods as opposed to simply farming or owning land.

It required farmers to apply for the funding, but within six hours of the latest round of funding opening, it was closed for applications having allocated all the funding and will not reopen until 2027.

The chaotic operation of the funding round led to the strategic lead for agriculture at The Wildlife Trust to compare it to ‘the scramble to get Oasis tickets’.

Political figures in the Torridge district area also condemned the system.

Sir Geoffrey Cox KC, the member of parliament for Torridge and Tavistock expressed his serious concern at the sudden closure of the SFI application window, after the funding pot was exhausted in just six hours.

He said that farmers have reported returning from their farming duties in the afternoon only to discover that they were unable to apply. For those who did attempt to apply, there were reports of technical difficulties with the RPA’s website, as many thousands of farmers sought to submit their applications simultaneously.

The SFI is one of the principal agri-environmental schemes supporting farmers and is an essential component of the financial viability of many family farms in across Torridge and Tavistock.

Sir Geoffrey said: “I am deeply disturbed to see that the application window for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) closed after less than six hours. I have already been contacted by farmers who missed out and who will now be left in limbo, facing further financial uncertainty despite weeks of preparation for their applications. The irony is that farmers would have been out tending to their fields, their livestock or at market when the window opened, only to return and discover that the window had suddenly closed and the £210 million in funding had been exhausted.

“The Government clearly has very serious questions to answer, and I hope urgent measures will be taken to rectify this farcical event and address the uncertainty this has caused for our farming families”.

Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, the cabinet member for rural affairs and broadband at Devon County Council was equally critical.

She said: “SFI26 has been an absolute shambles. The Government has got this badly wrong.

“Farmers and agents were trying to apply from 8am this morning. The scheme didn’t open until 10am but farmers weren’t even properly told.

“Then the system started failing. People applying were left staring at a spinning loading symbol for hours, desperately trying to get their applications to go through. I’m on a farming WhatsApp group and know farmers and agents have been in tears with the stress and frustration today.

“And while all this was happening, other farmers were still out silaging. Working. Farming. Hoping they could get back to their applications this evening or tomorrow morning which should be completely reasonable.

“Now they’re being told the entire funding pot has gone. Within a matter of hours (less than 6 hours it was gone). Farmers are furious and with good reason.

“As a farmer myself, and as Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs at Devon County Council, I know exactly how much pressure farming families are already under.

“We’ve lost the Single Payment since leaving the EU. We’ve had huge changes and uncertainty in relation to farm support. We’ve faced severe drought this year and on top of this we’ve dealt with bluetongue. And of course we’ve had the stress and uncertainty around the family farm tax from this same government!

“Farmers should not have to race each other to hit an ‘apply’ button. They should not have to sit at a computer all day instead of farming. And they certainly should not be left in tears because a Government system isn’t working.

“We hear it time and time again from our politicians: “Food security is national security.” And I’ve said it before- I’m sick of hearing it! Government needs to live up to its own words. If food security really is national security, then support the farmers who produce our food.

“DEFRA knew farmers would want this support. They knew demand would be high.

“Yet somehow we have ended up with a system where the quickest person to get through the door gets the money, while thousands of others are left with nothing.

“Farmers are resilient. But Government should not keep pushing them to the limit and then expect them to simply get on with it.

“SFI26 needs urgent action and the Government needs to put this right.

“Farmers deserve better.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “This year we ensured small farms and those new to SFI were prioritised – with an exclusive first window in the summer.

“In anticipation of high demand in the second window, Ministers decided to allocate an additional £20-million to the fund, on top of the £50-million announced by the Prime Minister in August, so that we could fund as many agreements as possible. We have therefore allocated a total of £310-million to new agreements under both windows.”