The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) are reminding Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement holders in England to submit their annual declaration to confirm that they have delivered against their agreement for that year. It is important to submit your annual declaration online, via the Rural Payments service, within the designated period to receive the final quarterly instalment of your annual payment.
Submission timeline & steps
Each SFI agreement spans three years, with agreement holders required to submit an annual declaration during the last two months of each relevant agreement year.
Key dates for annual declaration submission
To assist SFI agreement holders, the RPA have outlined the opening and closing dates for the annual declaration submission based on the start date of the agreement:
Agreement start date |
Declaration period opens |
Declaration period closes |
1st October 2023 | 1st August 2024 | 30th September 2024 |
1st November 2023 | 1st September 2024 | 31st October 2024 |
1st December 2023 | 1st October 2024 | 30th November 2024 |
1st January 2024 | 1st November 2024 | 31st December 2024 |
1st February 2024 | 1st December 2024 | 31st January 2025 |
1st March 2024 | 1st January 2025 | 28th February 2025 |
1st April 2024 | 1st February 2025 | 31st March 2025 |
1st May 2024 | 1st March 2025 | 30th April 2025 |
1st June 2024 | 1st April 2025 | 31st May 2025 |
1st July 2024 | 1st May 2025 | 30th June 2025 |
1st August 2024 | 1st June 2025 | 31st July 2025 |
1st September 2024 | 1st July 2025 | 31st August 2025 |
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) rotational actions declaration
If your SFI agreement includes rotational SFI actions, you need to complete a ‘rotational actions declaration’ to tell the RPA about the location and area of your rotational SFI actions for the second and third years of your SFI agreement. This is necessary even if you’re not making any changes to the location or area of these actions.
Rotational SFI actions in the SFI 2023 offer
You will need to complete a rotational actions declaration if your SFI agreement includes any of the following SFI actions in the SFI 2023 offer:
Action for soils
SAM2 – Multi-species winter cover crops
SAM3 – Herbal leys
Actions for integrated pest management
IPM2 – Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips
IPM3 – Companion crop on arable and horticultural land
IPM4 – No use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops
Actions for nutrient management
NUM2 – Legumes on improved grassland
NUM3 – Legume fallow
Actions for farmland wildlife on arable or horticultural land
AHL1 – Pollen and nectar flower mix
AHL2 – Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land
Actions for farmland wildlife on improved grassland
IGL2 – Winter bird food on improved grassland
When to complete your rotational actions declaration
You need to complete your rotational actions declaration towards the end of the first and second years of your SFI agreement. Your rotational actions declaration will be available in the Rural Payments service once you have submitted your annual declaration. The RPA will notify you when it’s available.
It’s important that you complete and submit your rotational actions declaration as soon as it’s available so you can be paid for the relevant agreement year.
Read more in the handbook for the SFI 2023 offer
Further help & advice
If you are interested in applying for an SFI agreement, our Stewardship & Grants team are available to go through the scheme options with you and identify which actions could work for your farm.
For further help and advice, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.