Farmers have been promised "accelerated payments" under a new government incentive scheme - but sector leaders warn it does not go far enough to fill a "black hole" in farm finances.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is part of a new system of environmental payments being launched while EU subsidies are phased out after Brexit.

The 2023 scheme will open for applications from September 18, but the National Farmers' Union (NFU) feared the delay from an expected August roll-out meant the earliest adopters will not see money in their accounts before the end of this year.

The union said this would leave farmers "in limbo" while dwindling Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) subsidies have already been cut by £720m - sparking calls for the withdrawal to be paused until replacement schemes are ready.

But now ministers have announced that those who have a "live" SFI agreement before the end of the year will receive an "accelerated payment" – worth 25pc of its annual value – in the first month of this agreement.

Defra said this will help with cashflows, while food and farming secretary Thérèse Coffey said her department is "driving forward our new farming schemes to deliver a profitable and sustainable food and farming sector that delivers for people and our planet".

But farming leaders said more needs to be done.

Charles Hesketh, the NFU's East regional policy manager, said: "It is encouraging - at least they [Defra] are acknowledging the fact that they need to speed this up.

"But it is a bit frustrating that they are pitching it as a great thing they are doing to help farmers out, while really it is the least they could do because they have messed us around so much over this.

"It has taken a long time to get more information out and we are hoping they can manage to honour it and that these new agreements come quickly."

Mr Hesketh said an "alarming" number of farmers still do not understand SFI and the withdrawal of their current subsidies - and he repeated calls for greater government transparency about the redistribution of the BPS budget through new schemes.