Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to HCWS1230, how her Department will define small farms for the purposes of reopening the Sustainable Farming Incentive; what assessment she has made of barriers to participation for small and family-run farms under previous schemes; and how her Department will measure whether access to support has improved.

The Government will publish a precise definition of a small farm before the first application window opens in June. This is one of the details the Government will be testing with key stakeholders.

As confirmed at the Oxford Farming Conference, the Government will open two Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) application windows in 2026:

• an initial window from June for small farms, and also those without existing Environmental Land Management agreements

• a second window opening from September for all other farmers

The Government will provide more detail on the new SFI offer ahead of publishing the full scheme details before the first application window opens in June.