Defra publishes scheme details for SFI 2024 in England from this July
Details of the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer for 2024 have been published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), outlining what will be available at scale to farmers in England from this July.
The SFI 2024 offer will comprise 102 actions all accessed through one scheme. These include:
- the existing 23 actions from SFI 2023 – with slight improvements to the requirements being asked of farmers – see below;
- 23 new actions in new action categories that were announced in January – including precision farming and no-till practices;
- 57 improved versions of Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier options – the majority of which have been reduced in duration from 5 years to 3 years; and
- 1 endorsed action – species-rich grassland, whereby written approval is required from Natural England or Historic England – a further 15 endorsed actions will follow later in the year.
The increased SFI management payment will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future – however, it will be kept under review – with £40/ha per year for up to the first 50ha for the first agreement year being available with £20/ha per year being paid thereafter.
Defra has launched a new digital tool - "Find funding for land or farms" to signpost customers toward funding that is available to them – and also where all the detailed action information can be found.
For the first time, farmers can also apply for the SFI if they didn’t receive Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments.
Changes to scheme information for existing actions
AIC has worked with Defra to improve the detailed action information for several of the existing SFI 2023 actions and changes have been made to several of them for SFI 2024.
This is particularly relevant where seed mixes are required, for example, CSAM2, CSAM3, SOH2 and CAHL1; or where timeframes or management guidance is now provided, such as CAHL2 and NUM3.
With these changes, AIC Members need to be aware that farmers may be looking for goods and services as part of an existing SFI 2023 agreement, or they may be working to the requirements of SFI 2024 as part of the controlled rollout or the wider scheme, once launched.
Capped actions
The six actions that were capped in SFI 2023 will continue to be capped in SFI 2024 and the 25% rule will be applied to four of the new actions in the expanded offer. These are:
- WBD3 – in-field grass strips
- AHW9 – unharvested cereal headland
- AHW1 – bumble-bird mix
- AHW11 – cultivated areas for arable plants
This will mean that new SFI applicants will only be able to put up to 25% of the total agricultural area of their farm into a combination of one or more of these 10 actions.
Controlled rollout
Expressions of interest for the SFI 2024 scheme have now opened for those farmers wishing to apply ahead of the offer being fully self-service in July.
The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) will invite a mix of customers into the controlled rollout at the end of this month to fully test the service and gather feedback.
Should this be of interest to farmer clients, they can complete a short expression of interest on the RPA website.
Moving from CS to SFI
Farmers can move from CS Mid-Tier or High-Level Stewardship (HLS) into SFI or CS Higher-Tier at a time of their choosing.
They will be paid up to the latest full scheme agreement year for their existing agreement.
Whereas those in existing HT agreements are expected to complete their agreement, other than in exceptional circumstances.
CS Higher Tier
In the summer, Defra will publish information setting out who is eligible for CS Higher-Tier; details of each of the actions available to apply for; and, how to apply and request specialist advice before they prepare their applications.
The application window for CS Higher-Tier will open in the winter, with agreements starting in January 2025.
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