Through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), you can get paid for actions that support your business, food production and the environment.
Mother and son team, Tracey and Will, run a dairy and beef farm in Langley Mill, Derbyshire. They entered their SFI 23 agreement in December 2023.
In this video, they talk through the SFI actions they’ve included in their agreement, including herbal leys in rotational pasture, hedgerows, soils, legume mix with grasses, and pest management. They describe how SFI will help their farm business be more resilient.
Thanks to Tracey and Will for sharing their experience.
Learn more
We recently published a post which summarised the recent Agricultural Transition Plan update. The update includes the full range of new and updated actions as well as payment rates available in 2024.
You can apply for an SFI agreement now and choose from the 23 actions offered in 2023. By waiting for the 2024 actions, you could be losing out on funding. If you apply now, you'll be able to add actions to your agreement annually — or have multiple agreements — if you'd like to carry out further actions.
SFI is not competitive. Anyone who applies and is eligible will get an agreement. You can enter as much land as you like: there is no minimum or maximum area. You can choose how many actions you do and, once you’re in SFI, you can add more land and actions to your agreement each year. You will receive your first payment 4 months after your SFI agreement starts. After that you’ll be paid every 3 months, so you have a regular, reliable income.
Our dedicated SFI site is a good place to start your journey.
4 comments
Comment by Caroline Jane Corsie posted on
Is SFI 2023 open for applications (until 2024 is available ) ?
Comment by The Team posted on
Hi Caroline,
Yes, SFI is open.
Best wishes,
The Team
Comment by Cathy, East Sussex posted on
Nicely done video however big shame no numbers were mentioned re the SFI funding.
How much are they getting paid for the SFI actions they are doing on their 120 acres?
How much were their BPS payments before they started being phased out ?
Is it worth it ? What is the shortfall ?
That’s what really matters to us all.
Comment by The Team posted on
Hi Cathy,
Thanks for watching the video and for sharing your feedback. Where possible (and people feel comfortable) we'll give a better sense of the financials on specific farms in future films. But just so it's handy, the full list of payment rates for every SFI action is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sustainable-farming-incentive-guidance
Other schemes and grants are available in addition to SFI. They're listed here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers.
SFI really is worth exploring. We've designed the scheme so that food production and the environment are at the heart of the actions. It isn't competitive. If you apply and you're eligible, will get an agreement. You can enter as much land as you choose: there is no minimum or maximum area.
SFI offers a lot of flexibility. You can pick the actions you'd like to add to your agreement and add new ones every year. As Tracey says in the video, you might find that you're doing the actions already.
The payment rates were recently increased (and levelled in some cases where there was disparity across land types) so it's better time than ever to see what might work on your farm.
If you're a tenant, you don't need permission from your landlord to apply for an agreement and the length of agreements has been shortened to correlate better with the average tenancy length.
It's also possible for you to stack SFI actions with CS options. In summer, we'll introduce a 'single service' which will make it easier to combine both things.
Applying is very straightforward and you'll be paid quarterly to help with cashflow. You'll also get a management payment of £20 per hectare, up to 50ha in total.
This site gives an overview of the scheme and also features videos of more farmers who've signed up: https://farming.campaign.gov.uk/why-apply-for-sfi/
We hope you'll consider it.
Best wishes,
The Team