Asked by: Victoria Atkins (Conservative - Louth and Horncastle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what support she will provide to farmers with Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Higher Tier agreements expiring in December 2026 who have not secured a Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 agreement.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Farmers with expiring Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier agreements may be able to apply for future environmental land management offers, including a planned SFI27 offer, where they meet eligibility criteria. Natural England is contacting Higher-Tier customers whose agreements expire in December 2026 to discuss options, including a new Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier.
Asked by: Victoria Atkins (Conservative - Louth and Horncastle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to provide sufficient funding to the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2027 to cover expiring agreements and to meet the expected level of demand from farmers seeking to deliver environmental outcomes.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have allocated a record £11.8 billion to sustainable farming and food production over this Parliament. We are investing more than £2.7bn a year in farming and nature recovery. Overall farmers and land managers will benefit from an average of £2.3bn a year for farming schemes. This includes funding for the Environmental Land Management schemes paid to farmers increasing by around 150%, rising from £800m in 2023/24 towards £2bn by 2028/29. There will be future Sustainable Farming Incentive offers and, in keeping with the Farming Roadmap 2050, we plan to make an SFI27 offer available.
Asked by: Victoria Atkins (Conservative - Louth and Horncastle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much is the average annual payment per hectare is for agreements entered into under Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The estimated mean annual payment per hectare for live Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2026 agreements is £224, as of 16th October 2026.
Asked by: Victoria Atkins (Conservative - Louth and Horncastle)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make her policy to opening the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2027 in sufficient time to allow agreements to commence from 1 April 2027.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There will be future Sustainable Farming Incentive offers and, in keeping with the Farming Roadmap 2050, we plan to make an SFI27 offer available. Following the closure of SFI26 Window 2, we are working with farming representative organisations and the wider sector to consider how we refine the scheme for SFI27. We will share further details as early as possible.