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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.

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.

Webinar follow up: livestock and grassland

We recently held a webinar for livestock and grassland farmers in England. In the webinar, we gave an overview of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer and how the scheme supports both productivity and the environment. We also covered the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway and the grants on offer through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund. In this post, we summarise what we covered and include the recording and links for you to learn more.

Why we’re putting area limits on some SFI actions

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Sustainable Farming Incentive
Up on the hill the farmer is turning the grass to help it dry and so get a crop of hay rather than sileage. Photo taken in High Birkwith.

Since we opened the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) for applications, we’ve continued to refine the scheme. One of the things we’ve been monitoring is the impact of those actions which take land out of food production. In this post, we’ll explain why we’re putting area limits on some SFI actions.