Labour may cut financial support for flooded farmers, the Guardian has learned, while money to compensate them for deluges in January has still not hit their pockets.
The previous Conservative government earlier this year promised up to £25,000 in payments for uninsurable damage from flooding caused by Storm Henk. However, the eligibility criteria for these grants has still not been set out, leaving farmers out of pocket. The scheme has been plagued with delays, with some affected farmers not being paid because they live too far from a river.
Some early claimants received money in July but thousands more who are thought to be eligible are still waiting for the financial support.
Senior sources in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the Guardian that decisions about how much money could be paid to farmers for the floods were being held up because of the spending review, and that cuts were on the table. The Conservatives had promised a £50m expansion of the fund before the general election.
Floods have already begun this autumn, with freshly sown crops washed away and farmers facing another unprofitable harvest season. Farmers fear that they are about to take a financial hit while still waiting for government payments from January’s floods. New Met Office data shows six counties had their wettest September on record: Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. There have been floods across the country and more rain is expected by the end of this week.
The National Farmers’ Union vice-president, Rachel Hallos, said: “Back in May, farmers impacted by the devastating storms at the start of the year were promised help through the expanded farming recovery fund offer, but this has not been forthcoming.
“Months later, farm businesses are still suffering the impact of the relentless rain. Thousands of acres of farmland have been completely saturated and unusable, and we’ve just finished an incredibly difficult harvest with huge variations in yield and quality. We urgently need details of when the fund will be available to help these farms recover.
“With further heavy rain leaving more fields waterlogged, arable farmers are once again concerned about getting crops in the ground for next season. We cannot keep getting stuck in this cycle – we simply must invest in our water management systems. The farming recovery fund is one part, but we need a long-term plan for how we protect our towns and countryside from what is becoming more regular, and expensive, flooding events.”
This is the latest blow to farmer confidence from the Labour government, after the Guardian revealed ministers were mulling cutting about £100m a year from the nature-friendly farming budget.
Flooding is hurting UK food security, and experts believe floods are being made worse by climate breakdown. Income from farming in England plummeted by 19% in 2023 after floods meant harvesting many crops was impossible. Farms also contributed less to England’s economy in 2023 at £10bn, a fall of £1bn or 8.7% compared with 2022. Farmers’ total income from agriculture in England was £4.5bn, down £1.1bn or 19.0% compared with 2022.
A Defra spokesperson said that all spending commitments for the coming year were to be confirmed in the spending review, adding: “The government is working at pace, with input from representatives of the farming sector, to accelerate the building of flood defences through our new flood resilience taskforce. All farmers eligible for the initial farm recovery fund set up in April have been offered payment, with further information on the scheme set out in due course.”
