The Farmers Weekly Podcast

Farmers are ploughing up environmental features after thousands were shut out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive when funding ran out less than six hours after applications opened.
In this episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast, we hear from Lincolnshire farmer Charles Anyan as he returns buffer strips to wheat production following problems with his SFI application.
NFU vice-president Robyn Munt sets out what the union wants Defra to do next – including urgent clarity for farmers left without agreements and an earlier opening for SFI 2027.
Shadow farming minister Robbie Moore gives the Conservative response and argues that the government and Treasury must provide greater certainty over future funding.
And we visit the Allerton Project in Leicestershire, where a planned SFI agreement worth about £85,000 a year failed to get through.
Allerton head of sustainable farming Joe Stanley considers what the debacle means for environmental delivery – and whether private natural-capital markets can fill some of the funding gap.
Chapters
00:00 – SFI fallout: farmers start ploughing up environmental features
09:27 – Autumn drilling update: grassweed control with Bayer Crop Science
12:19 – NFU demands answers from Defra
25:41 – Political fallout from the SFI closure
37:18 – Markets: beef and sheep strengthen
39:42 – Allerton Project: £85,000 SFI shortfall
45:20 – What now for farm environmental policy?

Special Guests
Charles Anyan – Lincolnshire farmer
Robyn Munt – vice-president, National Farmers’ Union
Robbie Moore MP – shadow farming minister
Joe Stanley – head of sustainable farming, Allerton Project
Useful links
Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 – scheme information
Defra: SFI26 Window 2 update
Defra: SFI26 Window 2 applications and statistics
NFU: SFI scheme guidance and information
Allerton Project
This episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker.
To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: -
Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/
Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/
Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/
For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly
To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Defra is under intense pressure after the £233 million budget for the 2026 Sustainable Farming Incentive was exhausted just five hours and 48 minutes after applications opened.
In this emergency episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast, farmers describe technical problems that prevented them from submitting complete applications despite weeks of preparation – leaving some facing holes of more than £50,000 in their farm budgets.
Farm business consultant James Bush explains what went wrong, what farmers should do next and why Defra and the Rural Payments Agency need urgently to clarify what happens to those who missed out.
Podcast hosts Johan Tasker, Hugh Broom and Louise Impey discuss the wider fallout – including fears that farmers could abandon environmental measures if funding remains unavailable.
In this episode
00:00 – SFI funding exhausted in under six hours
The £233m budget disappears after applications open, leaving thousands of farmers without agreements.
00:52 – West Sussex farmers hit by application problems
Frans de Boer and Rupert Hoare describe unexplained compatibility errors, missing options and incomplete applications despite extensive preparation.
02:45 – £55,000 hole in a Cambridgeshire farm budget
Beef and arable farmer Peter Hatley explains how technical problems prevented his application and why losing expected SFI income could force major changes to his farming system.
04:14 – Dartmoor farmer loses £50,000 agreement
Matthew Cole describes spending hours preparing his upland application only for errors to prevent submission before the budget disappeared.
05:19 – Hugh and Louise react
Hugh Broom and Louise Impey discuss the stress, confusion and frustration surrounding the application window – and the consequences for farmers who missed out.
08:07 – Farm consultant James Bush: what went wrong?
James Bush, head of agriculture at GSC Grays, describes consultants preparing for a 24-hour application marathon – only to see the entire budget exhausted within six hours.
10:08 – What Defra needs to fix
Technical problems, mapping issues and the shortcomings of a highly compressed application window.
12:00 – What farmers should do next
James explains why land-use codes, land cover, digital mapping and contingency plans need to be checked ahead of any future application window.
13:07 – The particular problem facing upland farms
Why farmers in the uplands have fewer alternatives when environmental support disappears – and how one moorland agreement was left with a major funding shortfall.
15:04 – Don’t panic – but demand clarity
What farmers need to know about another SFI window and how SFI 2026 might interact with future schemes.
16:10 – Could environmental land go back into production?
Hugh warns that frustration with government schemes could encourage farmers to remove margins and other environmental measures.
19:38 – Budget, IT – and communication
Louise argues that Defra must either provide sufficient funding or redesign the scheme around the budget actually available.
21:03 – What happens next
The team looks ahead to Friday’s Farmers Weekly Podcast and further coverage of the SFI fallout.
Guests
Frans de Boer – West Sussex farmer
Rupert Hoare – West Sussex farmer
Peter Hatley – Cambridgeshire beef and arable farmer
Matthew Cole – Dartmoor farmer
James Bush – head of agriculture, GSC Grays
Useful links
Farmers Weekly – latest Sustainable Farming Incentive news and analysis
Defra – Sustainable Farming Incentive guidance
Rural Payments Agency – SFI applications and scheme information
GSC Grays – agricultural and farm business advice
This emergency episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker.
To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: -
Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/
Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/
Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/
For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly
To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Farmers face a race to secure funding when the Sustainable Farming Incentive reopens – with warnings that the available money could be allocated within just 24 hours.
We look at how to prepare an SFI26 application, why growers should resist simply chasing grant money and what could happen to farmers whose existing agreements prevent them joining this time around.
Sugar beet growers face another period of uncertainty after price negotiations between NFU Sugar and British Sugar break down. With the 2027/28 contract heading to arbitration, we ask whether the crop can continue to earn its place in the rotation.
After one of the earliest maize harvests on record, we examine maize quality, forage shortages and why regular silage analysis could prove particularly important this winter.
And former farm minister Daniel Zeichner gives an extraordinary account of life inside Defra – including his claim that he knew nothing about the government’s inheritance tax changes until after they were announced in the 2024 Budget.
This episode is brought to you by Bayer Crop Science – weeding out uncertainty.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
01:09 – SFI26: will the money run out in 24 hours?
08:01 – SFI: preparing for the scramble
14:21 – Autumn drilling update: managing dry seedbeds
16:56 – Sugar beet price talks head to arbitration
20:50 – Does sugar beet have a future?
25:39 – Around the farming world
30:01 – Maize harvest: quantity versus quality
34:25 – Markets: livestock up, grain down and diesel jumps
36:46 – Daniel Zeichner: what really happened inside Defra?
44:20 – Abi Kay on an extraordinary interview
Special Guests
Chloe Timberlake – farm business adviser, Ceres Rural
Nick Scantlebury – senior farms manager, Elveden Estate
Neil Groom – maize specialist, Grainseed
Daniel Zeichner MP – former Defra farm minister
Abi Kay – Farmers Weekly chief reporter
Useful links
Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
SFI26 Window 2 update
Sugar beet price arbitration
British Sugar’s Cantley plans
Bovine TB transmission research
Daniel Zeichner interview
This episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker.
To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: -
Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/
Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/
Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/
For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly
To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an exclusive interview with Farmers Weekly's Abi Kay, former farm minister Daniel Zeichner gives an extraordinary account of life inside Defra.
Revelations include Mr Zeichner's claim that as a minister he knew nothing about government plans to impose inheritance tax on farmers until after they were announced in the 2024 Budget.
He says he was then “dutifully dispatched to defend” the policy to furious farmers.
Mr Zeichner also admits that Labour was not sufficiently prepared for government when it was elected in July 2024.
He says he was unable to tell farmers the “full story” about problems with the government's flagship Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which ran out of money in March 2025.
He also describes feeling “man-marked” by Treasury officials he had never met – and says the government should have foreseen the trouble its inheritance tax plans caused.
Edited and produced by Johann Tasker.
To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: -
Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/
Contact or follow Abi: uk.linkedin.com/in/abi-kay-38927130
For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly
To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tenant farmers are being urged to seek rent reductions as difficult arable economics put pressure on farm businesses – but how far should landlords go to share the pain?
This week, we examine calls for rent cuts of up to 20% and ask whether landlords and tenants need a new approach to negotiating rents during difficult years.
We also investigate the secret workshops helping farmers protect themselves against increasingly sophisticated rural crime.
Security specialist Frank Cannon explains why some crime-prevention advice is deliberately kept behind closed doors.
Meanwhile, pig producers face a difficult autumn after processors served notice on supply contracts.
Thousands of pigs could be left without a contracted buyer each week, accelerating the decline of independent production.
And finally, we head to the cinema for Derek vs Derek, a feature-length documentary following two neighbouring Devon farmers with very different ideas about the countryside: dairy farmer Derek Banbury and rewilder Derek Gow.
Derek vs Derek is directed by James Dawson and follows Derek Banbury and Derek Gow over three years. Its UK cinema release begins on 2 October 2026.
This episode is brought to you by Bayer Crop Science – weeding out uncertainty.
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
00:59 – Should tenant farmers demand rent cuts?
09:41 – Who should carry the pain in a bad year?
13:27 – Autumn drilling update with Bayer Crop Science
15:23 – Secret workshops tackle rural crime
18:11 – How farmers can make themselves harder targets
25:10 – Farming politics on the road
27:35 – Back British Farming Day
29:06 – Pig producers face contract crisis
33:43 – Markets: livestock, grain and fuel
36:09 – Derek vs Derek: farming meets rewilding
38:38 – Food production or nature – must farmers choose?
47:23 – Podcast wrap-up
Guests and useful links:
Richard King – partner, Andersons farm business consultants
Jeremy Moody – secretary and adviser, Central Association of Agricultural Valuers
Frank Cannon – chartered security professional, Rural SafeGuard
Alistair Driver – editor, Pig World
This episode of the Farmers Weekly Podcast is co-hosted by Johann Tasker, Louise Impey and Hugh Broom. Edited and produced by Johann Tasker.
To get in touch with the Farmers Weekly Podcast: -
Contact or follow Johann: linkedin.com/in/johanntasker/
Contact or follow Louise: linkedin.com/in/louise-impey-95470b20b/
Contact or follow Hugh: linkedin.com/in/hugh-broom-9b11906a/
For Farmers Weekly, visit fwi.co.uk or follow linkedin.com/company/farmers-weekly
To contact, sponsor or advertise on the Farmers Weekly Podcast, email podcast@fwi.co.uk. In the UK, you can also text the word FARM followed by your message to 88 44 0.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.