Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026: What do we know so far?

The Government has announced more details on the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 this week.

£240 million will be made available during this phase of the scheme, which industry bodies have said will not go far enough.

Of this total budget for SFI26, £60 million has been allocated to Window 1 for small farms and farms without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement.

If Government does not allocate the full £60m in window one, that unspent budget would be available for window two. 

SFI26 will include a series of changes which the Government say will make the scheme fairer, simpler, and more accessible: 

• There are 71 actions farmers can choose from
• A new £100,000 annual agreement cap 
• Each farm business will be able to have one SFI26 agreement, helping spread available funding more fairly across the sector. 
• The SFI management payment will end for new agreements, allowing more funding to be directed towards on-farm actions. 
• A new cap on adding land to rotational actions after year one will provide greater budget certainty and help support more agreements. 
• Nearly all SFI26 actions will move to a standard three-year agreement length, simplifying the scheme and improving access for tenant farmers

Where can I find more information?

SFI26 scheme information can be found here

Countryside Stewardship

At least £50 million will also be available for new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) agreements this year, supporting targeted environmental improvements where they will have the greatest impact. 

The Government expected to continue supporting important habitats such as species-rich grassland through new targeted agreements, with further details to be announced shortly. 

The Government was also progressing the next group of Landscape Recovery projects expected to move into implementation this year.

Expiring agreements: where do farmers stand?

Many farmers have Environmental Land Management (ELM) agreements ending soon.

The Government said it was building new functionality into the SFI26 application service that will let these farmers apply for land currently in these expiring agreements before they end. 

The Government expected this to be available from the start of window two.

Small farms eligible for window one with expiring agreements may consider applying during window two to benefit from this feature.

The Government was aiming to confirm whether this approach will be possible before window one applications open.

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