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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, A) which organisations and individuals were informed which date the Sustainable Farming Incentive would launch, and B) when they were told.

The launch of the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 was published on the Defra Farming Blog and on GOV.UK. On 2 June 2026, Defra published a blog update stating that SFI26 Window 1 was expected to open on 30 June 2026 for 2 groups:

• small farms
• farms without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement

The scheme then opened on 30 June 2026, with scheme guidance online. Defra also published the Defra Farming Blog on 29 August 2026 that the second application window was expected to open on 22 September 2026 for all farmers and land managers.