What is the grant available for?
Unlike existing and previous schemes where farmers have had to wait until the end of the first year of their agreement to receive any payment, payments under SFI will be paid quarterly to support farmers’ cashflow and activities required in the scheme.
SFI pays farmers to adopt and maintain sustainable farming practices that can protect and improve the environment.
You can apply for a 3-year SFI agreement to do environmental land management actions to help you manage your land in a more sustainable way.
You can get paid for:
• a vet to visit your farm annually to review the health and welfare of your livestock and give you advice about improvements you could make, which will help you
increase farm productivity and resilience
• environmental land management actions under Countryside Stewardship (CS) which pays for more targeted actions relating to specific locations, features and habitats – CS is being improved, instead of developing a new Local Nature Recovery scheme
• environmental land management actions under Landscape Recovery which pays for bespoke, longer-term, larger scale projects to enhance the natural environment
Any eligibility criteria
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers and land managers to take up or maintain sustainable farming and land management practices that:
- protect and benefit the environment
- support food production
- improve productivity
These practices are referred to as ‘SFI actions’.
You can apply for an SFI agreement if:
- you’re a farmer or land manager with ‘management control’ of the land you want to enter into an agreement
- your land is eligible for the SFI actions you select
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will open applications for the expanded SFI offer from summer 2024 in a controlled way, so everyone gets the right level of service and support.
Farmers are able to be in SFI and Countryside Stewardship at the same time as long as the actions are compatible, and they are not being paid for the same action twice. The confirmed timeline for SFI allows time for small final technical adjustments to ensure the service works as straightforwardly as possible for all our customers and aligns with the closing date for CS.
You can apply for an SFI agreement if you’re a farmer who’s eligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).
You can enter land into an SFI agreement if it’s in England and:
• you expect to have management control of the land for the duration of the 3-year SFI agreement, including land you occupy under a tenancy on a ‘rolling’ year-by-year basis
• it's eligible for the SFI actions you choose.
To find out more about if your land is eligible for different SFI actions click here
Who provides the grant?
Sustainable Farming Incentive who is run by the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) on behalf of Defra.
How to apply for the grant?
To find out more information or to apply, click here.
