'Government delays are making green farming tough'

James MacCartney's family has farmed the 500-acre plot for about 100 years

James MacCartney and his family have been running their farm in Rutland for about 100 years.

He says embracing sustainability has been key to that longevity.

So when the government expanded its offer to pay farmers to adopt more sustainable practices this year - part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) - Mr MacCartney made sure he was among the first to apply.

However, the livestock farmer says his application has been hit by delays in the months since - and he is now actually missing opportunities to continue sustainable practices and reduce his carbon footprint.

The SFI is designed to help farmers and land managers opt for practices that will benefit the environment, support food production and improve productivity.

Mr MacCartney, whose farm sits near Oakham, said the status of his online application had been the same since September 2, saying it was being checked.

"It's really frustrating," he said. "My family has been on this farm for more than about 100 years and I've got children here.

"It's really important that family farms like this continue to operate and sustainability is a really key concept in that."

Mr MacCartney said sustainable and profitable farming went hand-in-hand

As the wait draws on, Mr MacCartney said "weather windows" - key to some of the practices that would fall under government scheme - would be missed.

"The farming calendar doesn't wait for when Whitehall can tell us whether or not we can do things.

"We have these small weather windows to take the action we need to take," the farmer said.

One of the things he said he wanted to do was to plant trees and new pasture on part of the 500-acre farm, to improve water quality downhill.

But he said while he waits for his application to be granted, he could miss the tree planting season.

Roll-out 'improving'

Despite the wait, Mr MacCartney said he had been implementing other environmental improvements but in order to continue, he said he and others like him "need to be paid for what we're doing".

Among his sustainable practices, Mr MacCartney said he lent out his sheep to arable farmers to reduce their need for fertiliser and chose his feed cattle from dairy herds, spreading the carbon impact over two sorts of product.

He said bureaucracy or digital delays "shouldn't be the thing stopping you getting in the field and doing the practical things that you want to do".

A Defra spokesperson said: "We are focused on championing British farming to boost rural economic growth, strengthen food security and improve the environment.

"We are continually improving our roll-out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive - with nearly 6,000 applications received so far, 2,500 offers made and 2,200 live agreements – and are increasing the number of agreements we can issue each week."

Defra added it was working in an "orderly way to upgrade and improve our technology so as to provide a smooth transition for farmers".