Sustainable Farming Incentive Update…

What we know so far

There will be two separate application windows, in June and September. The June application window will be available to farms which are less than 50 hectares (123 acres) and crucially, are not in any existing agri-environmental land management agreements e.g. SFI, Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier (CSS) agreements. At this stage we are assuming standalone capital grant agreements will be permitted to run alongside a new SFI application.

The second application window will be open to all farmers, from September.

The new offer will be different in the following ways:

1.            We do not know how long the application window will be open for. The RPA have stated they will set out clear budgets and provide regular updates allowing us to monitor when funding is nearly exhausted.

2.            There will be a reduced number of actions available to simplify the scheme

3.            There will be a reduction in actions which take land out of production (exact details are yet to be confirmed)

4.            The RPA will review payment rates for actions that take land out of production where uptake has been particularly high

Lots of questions remain over the finer details of the scheme, such as what actions will be available to choose from, what the payment rates will be and if there will be financial caps. Watch this space...

 Forward planning is key

 You can prepare now to ensure you are well-positioned to apply when applications open. We can begin initial conversations about what may be possible to help you prioritise your ideas and form a plan. Now is also the time to check land details on the RPA system are up to date, check mapping details are correct and that we have the appropriate RPA permissions. 

 This development is good news and does enable you to bring a little focus to your plans for 2026. Please get in touch with either Lucy or Sarah to discuss your next steps.