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Sustainable farming incentive
SFI applications are closed while Defra reviews scheme
On 11th March Defra closed the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme to new applications. Details of a revised SFI scheme will be announced in summer 2025, with a budget to be confirmed in the Spending Review. It is expected that the reformed SFI scheme will be re-launched in 2026.
What does this mean for you?
Scenario | What happens |
If you have an SFI agreement | Nothing changes. You will continue to receive payments as normal under the terms of your agreement. In many cases for another three years. If your agreement expires in October 2026, you may be eligible to apply for the reformed SFI offer after your current agreement ends. The RPA will provide more details later this year. If you entered an SFI agreement this year, you will be paid until 2028. |
If you’ve been offered an agreement but haven’t yet accepted | You need to accept your SFI agreement offer within 10 working days of it being offered (as explained in the agreement offer letter). If you don’t, your SFI agreement offer may be withdrawn. |
If you submitted an SFI application before applications closed but have not yet received an offer | You will be offered an agreement, provided your application is eligible. |
If you started an SFI application but did not submit it before applications closed | You will not be able to submit your application. The only exceptions to this are a small group of farmers who were blocked from submitting their applications due to a system fault or had requested ‘assisted digital’ support from the RPA to apply, and ex-SFI Pilot farmers whose Pilot agreement has already ended, but they haven’t applied for the full SFI 2024 offer on land which was in their Pilot agreement (see below). |
SFI Pilot Agreements
If you are in the SFI Pilot, you will be able to apply for an SFI agreement for the expanded SFI offer when your pilot agreement ends.
If you were in the Pilot and your agreement has ended already but you haven’t submitted an application for the expanded SFI offer yet, you will be able to apply.
The RPA will be in touch to let you know how to do this but please note that you will only be able to apply on the same land that was in the Pilot.
For further advice, or help with applying for an SFI agreement, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.
SFI animal health and welfare review
The animal health and welfare review is part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer, but has a separate application process. If you are a livestock farmer, you can get funding for a vet, or team chosen by a vet, to visit your farm and carry out a health and welfare review of eligible livestock.
Regulation approach: advise and prevent
Defra will continue to prioritise an ‘advise and prevent’ approach across schemes and regulation to make things fairer for all farmers participating in schemes.
Further help & advice
If you have any concerns about how the closure of the SFI 2024 scheme may affect you, or if you would like to discuss your options, please contact our Stewardship & Grants team on 01981 590514.
