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SFI 2026 is reopening: What you need to know now

England
Policy & Views
Defra
ELM
Environmental Land Management scheme

As SFI will shortly reopen, we’re providing a brief update on everything we know, what changes have been made since SFI24 and what you can do ahead of time to prepare.

In February, Defra released new information for farmers and land-owners on the SFI26 scheme: an important part of the wider ELM family of schemes which has been closed for applications since March 2025. Here, we provide updates on the list of available actions, changes to the value of actions and the application process. 

So what’s changed?

  • For SFI26, there will be two application windows: 

    • June 2026 - for small farms (defined as any farm business between 3-50ha) and farms without existing ELMs agreements (including SFI, CS Mid-Tier, CS Higher Tier, HLS, but excluding non-RPA initiatives e.g. Landscape Recovery)

    • September 2026 - open to all farm businesses registered with the RPA, and with a Single Business Identifier (SBI) number and at least 3ha of land.

  • Agreements under SFI26 will be capped at an overall agreement value of £100,000. There previously was no upper limit for agreements. This limit only refers to SFI26 agreements and has no bearing on previous SFI agreements.

  • Only one SFI26 agreement is allowed per farm business, linked to SBI numbers.

  • Action AHW7, enhanced overwinter stubble, has been added to the list of actions that cannot exceed more than 25% of a farm’s total area. The full list of area capped actions is listed below; 

    • CIPM2/IPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips

    • CAHL1/AHL1: Pollen and nectar flower mix

    • CAHL2/AHL2: Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land

    • CAHL3/AHL3: Grassy field corners or blocks

    • CIGL1/IGL1: Take improved grassland field corners or blocks out of management

    • CIGL2/IGL2: Winter bird food on improved grassland

    • WBD3: In-field grass strips

    • AHW7: Enhanced overwinter stubble

    • AHW9: Unharvested cereal headland

    • AHW11: Cultivated areas for arable plants

  • The number of available SFI actions has been reduced from 102 (in SFI24) to 71. Defra evaluated actions on their value for money, environmental impact and uptake to decide which actions should be kept. 

    • The majority of actions removed from SFI26 were those that did not directly deliver for the environment e.g. CIPM1: Assess integrated pest management and produce a plan and CMOR1 Assess moorland and produce a written record.

    • Removal of action GRW6: Species-rich grassland. The only endorsed action available in SFI24. Defra reasoning is that this action fits better in CS Higher Tier (CSHT), due to the need for Natural England endorsement. While NFFN agrees that GRW6 fits better in CSHT, the limited access to CSHT agreements leaves many species-rich grasslands at risk e.g. through conversion, using action CSAM3: Herbal leys. 

  • Three popular SFI24 actions now have reduced payment rates. Previous, very generous, payment rates drove very high uptake of actions with just three actions accounting for 35% of SFI24 budget spend. By reducing the payment rates, their relative popularity should reduce, enabling more budget for other actions. These actions and the rate changes are listed below: 

    • CSAM3: Herbal leys, reduced from £382/ha to £224/ha

    • CAHL2: Winter bird food, reduced from £853/ha to £648/ha

    • CNUM3: Legume fallow, reduced from £593/ha to £532/ha

  • Increased payment rates for certain moorland and shepherding management actions, reflecting limited access to CS Higher Tier. The actions and increased rates are listed below:

    • UPL1: Moderate livestock grazing on moorland – increased from £20/ha to £35/ha 

    • UPL2: Low livestock grazing on moorland – increased from £53 to £89/ha 

    • UPL3: Limited livestock grazing on moorland – increased from £66/ha to £111/ha 

    • UPL8: Shepherding livestock on moorland (remove stock for at least 4 months) – increased from £43/ha to £74/ha

    • UPL10: Shepherding livestock on moorland (remove stock for at least 8 months) – increased from £49/ha to £102/ha 

  • All new SFI agreements will now last for 3-years, including those which previously had a 5-year duration. This change in agreement length only affects SFI26 and not previous SFI agreements. 

  • There is now a limit on the area that can be under rotational actions. Rotational actions may now not exceed the area or value agreed in the first year of an SFI26 agreement, but the action can still be moved between fields to fit crop rotations. This restriction does not apply to agreements already live e.g. SFI23 or SFI24.

What’s new?

For the June window, Defra will be conducting a controlled roll-out application process using 50 randomly selected farmers in Mid-June. To be considered, farmers have to send an expression of interest to Defra and a random selection of 50 farmers will then take place  who can apply straight away e.g. those with up-to-date contact and farm details. The wider roll-out will happen approximately 2-weeks later, at the end of June, barring no issues with the controlled roll-out. The June window will close either when they allocate the June window budget or two calendar months after the window opens.

There is no official opening date for the Sept application window yet, but the anticipated closure of the window is similar to that of the June window opening, either when all the budget is spent or in March 2027.

Defra are working on a system that will allow those who have agreements that expire after the Sept application window  to put in a SFI26 pre-application during the Sept window, which will only go live once their old agreement has officially expired. This applies to CS Mid-Tier and SFI23 agreements that expire in Dec 2026. 

For those of you with small farms (3-50ha) and who have expiring agreements, it may be beneficial for you to wait until the September window to apply, despite being eligible to apply in June. This is because the system that Defra are using to support pre-applications will not be ready for testing until July, after the June application period has closed. Defra have confirmed that they will contact affected farms ahead of the June window.

What can you do to prepare?

Here are some simple steps you can take so that you are ready to submit your application.

  • Make time for planning: think about the farm as a whole and how actions might stack together and fit with other schemes, including planning ahead for which capital grant items you might need,.e.g. new hedgerow creation.

    • SFI Capital Grants are expected to open for applications in July 2026. 

  • Get your farm maps out and think about where SFI actions might fit within your farming business, and how you can stack these actions together for the best environmental and business benefits.

    • Is there an area that always sits wet or is hard to access due to the gradient of slopes, which might be good for actions like SCR1: Create scrub and open habitat mosaics? Can you square a field off and use the areas outside the square for environmental actions e.g. CAHL3: Grassy field corners or blocks?

    • Are there any easy wins which will require limited changes to your management style or that you are already doing? e.g. CIPM4: No use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops, CLIG3: Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs, CIPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips?

  • Check that all your details are up-to-date on the RPA system, including maps, permissions and contact details, to avoid any avoidable delays from mistakes in your application.

  • Sign-up to the Defra Farming Blog, so you receive notifications of any action or application guidance and wider scheme updates as and when they come out: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/subscribe/ 

  • Check Eventbrite for details of local Defra events to attend, where they will be sharing news on SFI 26 and other funding and schemes updates (Defra Farming Updates - June Events Collection).

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