Sustainable Farming Incentive: Rivers
(asked on 11th March 2026) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including incentives for river friendly farming in the new Sustainable Farming Incentive.
This question was answered on 18th March 2026
SFI includes a number of actions to support rivers, such as BFS6 (“6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses”).
The Government is also supporting river restoration through Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT), Landscape Recovery (LR), and ELM Capital Grants:
- CSHT provides a number of grants which support farmers/land managers to enhance their environmental habitats, including watercourses, such as CSW25, which directly supports the management of riparian and water edge habitats.
- Round 1 of LR includes a core aim of restoring England’s streams and rivers: this Round is taking forward 22 projects and providing funding for them to develop their proposals for the long-term restoration of nature within their respective landscapes.
- Defra will reopen the Capital Grants offer in July. This new round will make £225 million, 50% more than in 2025, available to farmers to buy equipment or services that help them make farming and environmental improvements across England.