Thousands of Farmers Miss Out as £310m Fund Runs Out Within Hours

Thousands of farmers missed out on a share of a £310m fund after applications opened and the available money ran out within hours.

Farmers raced to apply for limited funding

For Richard, accessing a portion of the fund seemed straightforward. All he had to do was submit an application.

What he did not realise was that he was competing with thousands of other farmers for the limited cash.

“I looked at 8 a.m. and it wasn’t live. I had things to do, so I went to work on the farm,” he said.

“I checked again during my lunch break and it was live, so I started it. There were a few errors, but I was able to get to the end of the form and submit.”

“I was a few minutes too late and the scheme was already registered. The pot of money had run out.”

Richard is one of thousands of farmers who missed out, despite having their money raised within hours.

Small family farms may have been disadvantaged

Richard believes small family farms may have been at a disadvantage during the application process.

While some larger companies may be able to dedicate staff to overseeing applications, Richard spends his mornings carrying out daily tasks on the farm before returning to complete the form.

NFU warned demand could exceed available funds

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) had already warned that demand could outstrip the available funding.

Helen Fisher, who farms near Atherstone and is regional deputy chair of the NFU Midlands, said the process had been completed in just six hours.

“This project was completed in six hours from start to finish. No one expected this level of demand.”

“We had warned Defra that demand was high and 12,000 farmers would not be able to apply in time.”