The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for farmers and landowners in England, officially launched on 30th June 2022, taking applications for 3 standards; arable and horticultural soils, improved grassland soils, and the moorland standard.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for SFI in 2022, your business must be eligible to apply for BPS, so your SBI must have held at least 5 ha of BPS eligible land and 5 or more entitlements as of 16th May 2022.
Some areas under existing stewardship agreements such as Countryside Stewardship, can be included in an SFI agreement, meaning applicants can maximise the revenue they receive on their land.
Similar to a CS application, you do not have to include all of your land, and there is no minimum or maximum area, but you do need to have management control over all land you enter, for the 3 years of the agreement.
Agreements & Payments
The SFI scheme currently has a rolling application window, and any agreements entered will last for 3 years, with an opportunity to upgrade the standards and / or levels in your agreement at the end of the first and second years of the agreement.
Payments will be made on a quarterly basis, but agreement holders will be required to submit an annual declaration (like a claim) at the end of each agreement year, to confirm they have complied with the obligations of the agreement, and to gain access to the final quarterly payment.
If you applied for the SFI when applications opened, your SFI standards agreement should start this autumn. In this case, your first quarterly payment should be made before the end of 2022.
How to Apply
All application routes will be different for each applicant depending on their circumstances.
BPS eligible farmers who do not have an existing agri-environment agreement can sign into the Rural Payments service now to apply for SFI on eligible land outside a common.
BPS eligible farmers who have an existing agri-environment agreement, or who want to apply separately on common land, need to contact the RPA to register their interest. In this case, you can either email ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk (using ‘Apply early for SFI’ as the email subject and including your SBI) or call 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5pm, except bank holidays).
If you would like advice or help applying for an SFI agreement, please contact us today on 01981 590514.
To view the full scheme guidance, click here.
