UPDATED INFORMATION
Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
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The Government has announced that applications to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) are now closed.
Defra has said the SFI24 budget has been allocated, and that it has therefore reached its completion. Outstanding eligible applications that have been submitted will still be taken forward.
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) now has more than 37,000 multi-year live agreements and is not only delivering sustainable food production and nature’s recovery for today and the years ahead, but it is also putting money back into farmers’ pockets. 
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If you have an SFI agreement: Nothing changes. You will continue to receive payments as normal under the terms of your agreement. In many cases, this will continue for another three years
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If you have been offered an agreement but haven't accepted yet: You need to accept your SFI agreement offer within 10 working days of it being offered. If you don't, the offer may be withdrawn
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If you submitted an SFI application before applications closed but haven't received an offer yet: You will be offered an agreement, provided your application is eligible
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If you started an SFI application but did not submit it before applications closed: You will not be able to submit your application now. The only exceptions are for a small group of farmers who were blocked from submitting their applications due to a system fault or had requested 'assisted digital' support from the Rural Payments Agency to apply, and ex-SFI Pilot farmers whose Pilot agreement has already ended but haven't applied for the full SFI 2024 offer on land which was in their Pilot agreement
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If you have an SFI Pilot agreement or your SFI Pilot agreement has ended: If you are in the SFI Pilot, you will be able to apply when your pilot agreement ends. If your pilot agreement has already ended but you haven't applied for the expanded SFI offer yet, you will still be able to apply. The Rural Payments Agency will let you know how to do this shortly
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The government plans to provide more details about a reformed SFI offer later this year, with information to follow the official government Spending Review.
Any new scheme is reported to be aimed at supporting farmers, benefiting nature, and targeting public funds effectively towards priorities for food, farming, and nature.
For more information contact:
Kathryn Williams – 07971 583 638