Farmers in England will continue to be paid for environmental work, with the Government confirming the details of its relaunched its green funding scheme.

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds told the National Farmers' Union (NFU) conference that the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), which replaced EU subsidies after Brexit, would reopen after being shut down with little warning in March 2025.

The reformed SFI offer for 2026 will consist of 71 actions, rather than the 102 previously available in the SFI24 extended offer. To manage budget pressures, there will be an agreement cap of £100,000 per annum.

There will be two SFI application windows in the coming year. The first will open in June for small farms (50ha in size) and/or those without an ELM revenue agreement. The second widow will open in September for other farmers.

Reacting to the news, NFU President Tom Bradshaw said he was “pleased that Defra has taken the NFU’s feedback on board in a number of areas where we were concerned about early plans for the new SFI”.

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