DEFRA announced today that the first window for SFI26 will close no later than 28th August. Since the scheme opened on 30th June, a total of 1,188 agreements have been sent to farmers and of those, 922 had been accepted by the 31st July.
Although the deadline is fast approaching, there is still plenty of time to submit applications within this first window. Designed for smaller farms or those with no SFI or environmental agreement already in place, the budget allocated was £60 million, of this, 50 per cent was allocated within only three days and by 13th July, 75 per cent had been allocated. However, there is still funding to be had for those with farms under 50 hectares.
Window 2 opens in September, however DEFRA is yet to release a date. This second window is expected to see £180 million-worth of funding available for all farmers, including those who were eligible for the first window.
We expect demand to be exceptionally high in the second window, partly due to the lack of funding on offer elsewhere throughout the industry following the end of BPS payments, and also as DEFRA has introduced a cap of £100,000 per SBI.
For the first time across all the SFI schemes, window 2 of SFI26 offers the option for farmers to apply for a new application before an existing one has ended. More specifically, those whose ELM schemes expire by the end of February 2027. Previously, these farmers would have to wait until those agreements ended before being able to apply for a new agreement. With this taken into account, it is expect demand will be even higher due to SFI26 becoming more accessible.
However, for both those farmers looking to apply for window 1 and window 2, Cheffins Rural Professionals Department can help prepare applications, guide farmers through the process, make maps and complete the submission.
It is essential for farmers to prepare early for these schemes and be as organised as possible at all points during the process. SFI is allocated on a first come first served basis (provided all the information is correct and there are no errors) and with the high demand for an application and evidence of how quickly the first window was allocated, it is expected that this window will be filled just as quickly. At Cheffins we have also found that prior to the window opening, many of our clients had historic issues with land tenure or mapping showing incorrect fields. These can all easily be resolved by our team, but it takes the RPA time to update these and change them on their system which can delay applications if not sorted early enough.
Our team will be happy to help any farmers with everything from drafting an agreement to creating maps, ensuring RPA accounts are updated and ready to apply and then finally submitting applications. There is still plenty of time to get everything in place for a successful application to window 2 so please get in touch with the Cheffins Rural Professionals team for further information.
Contact Cheffins on 01223 213777, [email protected] (Cambridge) or 01353 662405 or [email protected] (Ely).
To find out more about Cheffins' Rural Professionals services, please click here