Full details of the expanded and improved Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer available to farmers from July 2024 have been published by the government.
The expanded SFI offer will be open to new entrants for the first time and will initially comprise 102 actions, including over 20 new options to support more sustainable food production. There will be payments for precision farming, agroforestry, a new and expanded offer for upland farmers and more actions for tenants on short-term contracts.
In addition, further new actions will support flood preparedness, helping businesses to become more resilient to the changing climate and challenging weather conditions.
More than 50 simplified actions from Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier will be merged into SFI to streamline the application process for farmers. They include a number of actions where durations have been reduced from 5 to 3 years to align with the needs of tenant farmers.
In addition to the expanded offer, the government has also launched a new digital tool known as ‘Find funding for land or farms’ to signpost customers toward the funding that is available to them.
It has also been confirmed that the application window for CS Higher Tier, which provides grants to help farmers protect, restore or enhance the environment, will open in the winter, with agreements starting in January 2025.
Expressions of interest have now opened for those wishing to apply through the controlled roll out, ahead of the offer being fully self service in July.
The RPA will invite a mix of customers into the controlled roll out at the end of this month to fully test the service and gather representative feedback.
If you would like to be one of the first farmers to access the expanded SFI offer, you can complete a short expression of interest on the RPA website.
A select number of individuals will then be chosen to test the service and submit an application before the new offer is opened to the wider sector.
Applications will open to the wider sector, based on eligibility, on 22nd July.
For the full list of the SFI actions, their annual payment and duration is available to view here.
