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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the closure of applications for SFI agreements on farm businesses that had not entered one; and what bridging support is available ahead of the SFI 2026 application window.

The Government has allocated a record £11.8bn to sustainable farming and food production over this parliament. This is being invested in a range of grants and schemes to support farmers, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier, Landscape Recovery, and ELM capital grants. There are now over 44,500 multi-year live SFI agreements.

Defra expects to open the first SFI26 application window from 30 June. This window will be for small farms and farms without environmental land management revenue agreements, so as many farmers as possible can benefit from agreements.