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

To ask His Majesty's Government (1) how many applications for Sustainable Farming Incentive payments were received during each of the last three quarters, and (2) of these, how many were approved.

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) was opened to farmers on 30 June 2022. The SFI scheme has a rolling application window and quarterly payments begin midway through the fourth month after the start date of the agreements.

As of 20 April 2023, the table below shows the number of applications received and agreements paid over the last three quarters. For the period January-March 2023, payments started from mid-April and will continue to be released in May and June.

The above table shows applications received in each quarter. It is important to note that payments are made in the fourth month after the agreement start date, which may not occur in the same quarter as the application is submitted. The table below shows the number of agreements with start dates in each quarter and which of those have been paid.