Published: 12/03/2025 By George Whittaker
Yesterday, the government retrospectively announced that applications for new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements were closed and that they are not accepting new applications (as of yesterday evening).The announcement titled “Record farmers in SFI schemes as government successfully allocates sustainable farming budget” did confirm that businesses with existing SFI agreements will continue to receive payments as detailed in their agreement document until their specific agreement end date.
Applications successfully submitted before the scheme closed will be processed in the usual way. However, applications in draft form on the online system cannot be submitted and will not be accepted by the Rural Payments Agency.
Following an anticipated spending review later this year, a future version of the SFI scheme may be made available, but it will be capped and targeted. The government has not released any further details on when this might be available.
Understandably, the industry is very concerned, and businesses affected are urged to contact our Rural Grants experts in their local Symonds & Sampson office (below) to discuss and understand the potential business impact.