Sustainable Farming Incentive
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the budget allocated to the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 in meeting demand from farmers seeking to enter the scheme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
Defra is increasing Environmental Land Management schemes budget by around 150%, rising from £800 million in 2023/24 towards £2 billion by 2028/29.
The SFI26 offer has been developed with farmers and industry and is backed by a £240 million budget for new agreements this year. This builds on around £560 million already committed to farmers delivering over 39,000 live SFI agreements.
Changes to SFI26 will help spread funding across as many farmers as possible, ensuring fairer access to the scheme.
If the SFI26 budget is fully allocated, it may be possible to apply for future SFI offers. The department will publish more details on SFI27 in due course.
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