The Team

We're working with farms to improve the way we regulate and support farming and the environment.

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Spotlight on updates and additions to livestock and grassland offer

The Team, 13 February 2024 - Countryside Stewardship, environmental land management schemes, Payments to improve animal health and welfare, Sustainable Farming Incentive

Over the past few weeks, we've summarised the updates to our environmental land management offer by farm type. These posts follow last month's Agricultural Transition Plan update. In this post, we’ll focus on the updated offer for livestock and grassland farmers. 

Landscape Recovery: building long-term agreements

The Team, 12 February 2024 - Payments to restore landscapes and ecosystems

Landscape Recovery supports large-scale, long-term management of land for the benefit of sustainable food production and the environment. Many of the 22 projects in Round 1 are now halfway through the Project Development Phase (PDP). Our ability to co-design this scheme is founded on open and honest relationships with project teams. In this post, we share a summary of the work to develop long-term agreements.

The current offer for horticultural growers and farmers 

The Team, 30 January 2024 - Countryside Stewardship, environmental land management schemes, Sustainable Farming Incentive

The horticulture industry in England is diverse. As such, we and have a range of different offers available for farmers and growers. Whether you grow carrots or strawberries, daffodils or apples there is support you can access to help increase your productivity, improve the environment and innovate. In this post, we’ll summarise the schemes and grants horticultural famers and growers can access now. We'll also include links for you to join 2 upcoming webinars.

Spotlight on new actions for arable and horticulture farmers

The Team, 29 January 2024 - Sustainable Farming Incentive

At the beginning of the month, we published a post which summarised the recent Agricultural Transition Plan update. The update includes the full range of new and improved actions plus the payment rates available this year. Following the update, we said we'd set out the offer for each farm type in a series of posts. This post is for arable and horticultural farmers.

Watch: an SFI special from Oxford

The Team, 24 January 2024 - Conversations we're having, Sustainable Farming Incentive

Earlier this month, we attended both the Oxford Real Farming Conference and the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC). In this post, we share 2 videos. The first video is a session hosted by Jim Egan and Jonathan Baker on environmental land management and the agricultural transition. The second video features farmers John Geldard and Ben Taylor-Davies. John gives his opinion on the work of the team and Ben describes his experience of SFI and plans for his farm. 

Spotlight on new actions: agroforestry and improvements to our trees and woodland offer

The Team, 23 January 2024 - Payments to plant trees and manage woodland, Sustainable Farming Incentive

The Agricultural Transition Plan update includes the full range of new and updated Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) actions and the payment rates available in 2024. In this post, we focus on the new agroforestry actions and include improvements to the Countryside Stewardship (CS) offer for trees and woodlands.

Watch: future-proofing our farming business with SFI

Graham Higgins and The Team, 16 January 2024 - Sustainable Farming Incentive

Mother and son team, Tracey and Will, run a dairy and beef farm in Langley Mill, Derbyshire. In this film, 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 helps them to balance the books, take care of the environment and build the resilience of their farm business.

New and improved actions for upland farmers

The Team, 11 January 2024 - Sustainable Farming Incentive

Last week, we published a post about the Agricultural Transition Plan update. The update includes the full range of Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) actions — new and updated — with their payment rates.  In this post, we will focus on the new actions relevant to those who farm in the uplands, both moorland and non-moorland grassland.  

Supporting the tenanted sector in England

The Team, 8 January 2024 - Farming and Countryside Programme

Tenant farmers are at the heart of the rural economy, managing a third of all farmland in England. To meet our food security and environmental objectives, we must make sure that all farmers, including tenant farmers, can access our schemes and build thriving farm businesses. In this post, we’ll explain how we are continuing to design our schemes with tenant farmers in mind. We’ll provide an update on how we are embedding an understanding of the tenanted sector across Defra. We’ll also summarise the progress we’ve made so far.

Introducing the Smaller Abattoir Fund

The Team, 13 December 2023 - Farmers

A sustainable network of smaller abattoirs is an important part of the food supply chain. They support food security and maintain a competitive route to the market for a wide range of meat products. In this post, we’ll share the details of a grant designed to support this part of the sector.  

About us

This blog is managed by Defra’s Farming and Countryside Programme.

On this blog, we explain the reforms to agricultural policy in England.

We share what we’re working on, what we’re learning and how you can get involved.

Find out more

Talk to us

On 27 and 28 November, you can come and put your questions to us at the CropTec in Stoneleigh.

Find us at these shows and conferences.

Funding for farmers, growers and land managers in England

GOV.UK is the place to find official guidance and information.

Funding for farmers, growers and land managers sets out every payment on offer with links to learn more.

Get advice

The Farming Resilience Fund provides free, independent business support to farmers. If you’ve received direct payments since October 2022, you’re eligible. 

The Farming Advice Service (FAS) provide free, confidential advice to farmers and advisers.

Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) helps farmers in England protect water, air and soil. CSF advisers can provide advice on best practices and specific SFI actions that will benefit your farm business and the environment.

We’ve compiled a list of organisations offering wellbeing support to those in the farming community.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive

Find out how SFI can work for you.

Webinars in 2024

Attend upcoming webinars and watch recordings.

BPS and delinked payments

Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) in England will be replaced with delinked payments in 2024.

Learn how they’re calculated and who’s eligible.

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