As of November 2023 this is available to all farmers who have claimed or are eligible to claim the Basic Payment Scheme (at least 5 hectares of BPS eligible land and 5 or more BPS entitlements on either 16th May 2022 or 15th May 2023).

It provides an excellent opportunity for farmers and landowners to generate income, particularly as payments under the Basic Payment Scheme reduce over time.

Prior to the 2023 offer, many farmers and landowners entered land into the SFI 2022 Offer which offered tiered introductory and intermediate payments for arable and grassland soils and introductory moorland payments. These agreements are now being brought to a close with participants being encouraged to apply for SFI 2023.

Some farmers and landowners also entered land into the previous SFI Pilot scheme. As these agreements come to an end, participants are being encouraged to apply for SFI 2023.

The SFI 2023 Offer consists of 23 “pick and mix” actions under 9 standards and has been backed by over £2 billion of government funding.

DEFRA plan to introduce more actions over time.

Some of the actions are rotational and some are non-rotational.

Examples of payments which could be generated under the scheme are shown below, please refer to the “Summary of SFI actions in the SFI 2023 offer” section for the name of each action.

Example 1.
500 hectare arable farm. Has been growing winter wheat, spring barley, winter oilseed rape, spring beans. Oilseed rape and spring bean margins have been poor, the new rotation will therefore be winter wheat, spring barley, NUM3 legume fallow. Not in a CS scheme.

Note – there will be some seed costs associated with SAM2, IPM2, NUM3. Gross margin from oilseed rape and beans will be lost but labour and power costs and workload will be lower.

Example 2.
300 hectare grass farm with beef cattle and sheep. Thinking of planting clover rich swards anyway to reduce fertiliser inputs and happy to let some land produce seed for birds over autumn and winter after spring and early summer grazing. Not in CS scheme.

Note – may be some seed costs associated with SAM3, possibly IGL2. Lower fertiliser use will save costs but could reduce the number of cattle and sheep which the farm can accommodate.

Some of the actions are similar to Countryside Stewardship options although rules and details can be different. For example, under SFI some actions can be rotated annually whilst the equivalent CS option has to be in place for 2 or even 5 years.

Applicants can select as few or as many actions and enter as little or as much land and features into the scheme as they want.

Applicants will be able to increase or decrease the area of rotational options each year.

Application dates and payment dates

Unlike Countryside Stewardship, there is no deadline for applications. Applications are on a rolling basis and once accepted into SFI, the scheme will start on the 1^st of the following month.

Payments are on a quarterly basis.

SFI agreements are for 3 years unlike the Countryside Stewardship 5 year term allowing greater flexibility. Defra are keen to allow tenant farmers to apply and have stated that if you have a reasonable expectation that you will have management control of land for the duration of the 3 year SFI agreement (e.g. a rolling year by year tenancy) then you can enter that land into SFI.

There are no minimum or maximum areas for land-based options. Applicants may put whole fields or smaller areas or corners of fields into many of the actions.

Applicants will also receive a management payment of £20/ha per year up to the first 50 ha entered into management actions in the agreement to help with costs associated with planning and applying for the scheme.

It is possible to claim SFI payments on land already in Countryside Stewardship schemes and Environmental Stewardship schemes provided that payments are not for the same or similar outcomes or management conditions. A list of compatible CS and ES options is included for each SFI action in the SFI handbook.

SFI actions with an area limit

For SFI applications submitted on or after 26 March 2024, there are 6 SFI actions which must only be done on a proportion of your farm. These actions are referred to as ‘limited area’ actions and include:

• IPM2: Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips

• AHL1: Pollen and nectar flower mix (which should be growing in blocks or strips in a land parcel)

• AHL2: Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land (which should be growing in blocks or strips in a land parcel)

• AHL3: Grassy field corners or blocks

• IGL1: Take improved grassland field corners or blocks out of management

• IGL2: Winter bird food on improved grassland

You can choose as many of these ‘limited area’ actions as you wish, but the total eligible area you enter into them must not be more than 25% of the total agricultural area of your farm. This does not apply to existing agreements or applications submitted before 26th March 2024. For example, if the total agricultural area of your farm is 50ha, this means you must only enter up to a total of 12.50ha of eligible land into any combination of one or more of these ‘limited area’ actions.

For the purpose of these ‘limited area’ actions ‘farm’ means all the land parcels that are linked to your SBI at the point you apply for an SFI agreement – these parcels are shown on your digital maps. ‘Agricultural area’ means the area in each of the land parcels that’s registered with an arable, permanent grassland or permanent crops land cover.

Full SFI guidance and options can be found in the SFI Handbook.

DEFRA have also produced a series of guides on how to do the actions for each standard.

A summary of the standards and actions is tabulated below.