Farming leaders have called for improvements to the government's "underwhelming and overcomplicated" new green payments scheme.

Earlier this month, Defra published more details about the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), a key part of its environmental funding system designed to replace the EU's land-based subsidies, which are being phased out after Brexit.

Speaking at the Royal Norfolk Show, National Farmers' Union (NFU) deputy president Tom Bradshaw said the SFI was one of the main talking points at the event, along with water infrastructure and drought concerns.

"The initial reaction that I am picking up is that the SFI offer for 2023 is underwhelming and overcomplicated.

"So I am not seeing a groundswell of support for the policy announced last week.

"At a time when domestic food production has never been more important, global volatility and geopolitics are creating huge uncertainty, and yet we seem to be focused on taking land out of food production rather than how we build productivity.

"It needs to be a financially robust offer that attracts farmers into it."

NFU East regional director Dr Zoe Leach said if farmers did not engage with the scheme, there was a risk they could decide to sell land for development or farm more intensively - either of which would be counter-productive for the environment.

"We still have a lot of people who have not really engaged yet," she said. "They are waiting for it all to make sense, for it to stack up financially - but if people don't take it up then the government won't hit their environmental targets."

While visiting the NFU at the show, Defra farming minister Mark Spencer acknowledged the concerns, but said farmers who had read the recently-published handbook were telling him they were finding actions which would work for them in areas such as improving soil health and reducing fertiliser use.

"Events such as the Royal Norfolk Show are a great opportunity to engage with farmers directly and communicate that message and to reassure them that SFI is not as complicated as they may have feared," he said.