The National Farmers Union (NFU) president Tom Bradshaw has described the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) underspent agricultural budget as a “kick in the teeth”.

It is understood that the government department’s agriculture budget was underspent by £358m over the span of three years.

Bradshaw said this figure was “unacceptable” and “nothing short of a kick in the teeth to farmers and growers who have faced years of uncertainty and loss of income during the agricultural transition.”

The news of the government’s unspent funds comes amid ongoing calls from the NFU for more financial support for the industry.

Despite axing the Basic Payment Scheme in 2023, NFU says many schemes made to replace this funding have not yet been completed, leaving the extra money saved from the continued BPS reductions left “sat gathering dust”.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

Bradshaw added: “This underspend hasn’t happened because the investment isn’t needed.

“For years, the NFU has pressed the need for the new schemes to be in place before reductions in BPS began to avoid this very issue and avoid funding being left unspent at a time when farmers needed it most.”

The union has called for the government to carry the funding forward, so the money can “finally be put to its intended use” and support those in the farming industry.

Bradshaw’s comments follow the recent appointment of new Defra secretary of state Steve Reed. In July the two met to discuss “key and immediate” actions needed to enable the British food and farming sector to thrive, with Bradshaw adding that the new change in government needed to be “underpinned by a budget that will enable the necessary investment.”