Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) closed to new applicants
The news this week that the SFI Scheme will be closed to new applicants could not be more disappointing, especially on the back of the unexpected reductions to delinked BPS payments.
The press release refers to a ‘reformed SFI offer’ being announced after the Spending Review, which is due in April. How long after remains to be seen and given the Government’s track record it will clearly not be a priority.
For those concerned about their individual circumstances, please contact a member of our Rural Professional team and we will do our best to help. The following is taken from the press release and summarises the impact of the scheme being closed, whether you have an agreement already or were in the process of making an application:
| 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. We 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, we may withdraw your SFI agreement offer. |
| If you submitted an SFI application before we closed applications 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 we closed applications | 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. |
| If you have an SFI Pilot agreement or your SFI Pilot agreement has ended | If you are in the SFI Pilot, you will be able to apply 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 let you know how to do this shortly. |
