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Sustainable Farming Incentive

CSHT mirror agreements and HLS extensions: an overview 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Countryside Stewardship, Sustainable Farming Incentive
Close up of grass and flora underneath cloudy skies at All Hallows Marshes, Hoo, Kent.

If you have a Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT) agri-environment agreement that expires in 2024 or Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreement that expires in 2024 or 2025, we want to support you as you transition to our environmental land management (ELM) schemes. In this post, I’ll share an overview for those with CSHT and HLS agreements.

An update on SFI and our agri-environment schemes 

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: environmental land management schemes, Sustainable Farming Incentive
Combine Harvester at work in Bradfield St George with farmer in foreground

It's been a while since our last post. We’re glad to be back! Over the past month, we've been welcoming Defra's new ministerial team, who are fully committed to environmental land management schemes. We've been working with them to optimise our schemes and grants for farmers, food security and nature recovery. In this post, we’ll update you on the SFI rollout, provide links to new supplementary scheme guidance and share details on endorsed actions and capital items.

Wet weather and temporary adjustments to agri-environment agreements

Heavy rainfall has a devastating and long-term impact on farming. This disruption not only affects livelihoods but also has wider implications for food security and the economy too. We're introducing temporary adjustments and easements within the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), the SFI Pilot, Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (ES) to support farmers and land managers dealing with the impacts of severe weather in England.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive: stats to know

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Sustainable Farming Incentive
SFI agreement holding farmer looks out over his flock of sheep

Today, we updated the data showing the uptake of actions in Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and the uptake of options in Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (CS). In this post, I’ll share an overview of the data for the Sustainable Farming Offer in 2023. I’ll also include some findings from research we conducted with around 500 SFI agreement holders, advisers and stakeholders.