Member

The IHT fiasco, coupled with the abrupt closure of the SFI 2025 applications window, has forced farmers’ trust in government to an all-time low—mistrust that is not helped by the criminalisation of traditional rural pursuits while an epidemic of rural crime rages unabated. It is against this backdrop that this regrettable and precipitous reductions in delinked payments must be considered. They are, in my view, regrettable and should be delayed, as they will only further push already stressed farming businesses into the red at the worst possible time.