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We’re hiring! Vacancy for a self-employed part-time fundraiser

Apply by 11.00pm on 19 July 2026

Warwickshire Sustainable Farming Groups are pleased to offer free trees for farmers again this year. The trees are being funded by Warwick District Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council and Rugby Borough Council. Your farm must fall within one of these local authority boundaries to qualify.

Stratford District Council is unable to confirm funding until early July, so watch this space!

Various tree packs are available, including hedgerow packs, fruit tree packs, and woodland packs. Farmers can apply for anything from a single tree pack up to hundreds of trees.  Stakes and tree guards are also supplied.

The Warwickshire Wildlife Trust Farm and Wildlife Advice Service can also offer practical support for farmers looking to plant on a larger scale. Please contact land.advice@wkwt.org.uk to ask for help.

The trees must be collected on a specific day in December 2025 or January 2026 and will need to be planted as soon as possible after being collected. You will be asked to submit location details along with your orders. 

Order your trees on this link.

Defra has published their Farming Roadmap, which provides a flexible framework for the sector’s journey towards 2050, recognising that there is no single route to success. It enables different farming systems and businesses to adapt in ways that best suit their circumstances as markets, technologies and environmental conditions continue to evolve.

The Farming Roadmap has been shaped heavily by engagement with the sector.

To read more about the Roadmap and download a copy, visit this Defra blog post. You can read Defra’s response to the Farming Profitability Review and learn how the review’s recommendations have been fed into the Roadmap on this page.

STEPS is part of the Severn Trent Farming for Water catchment management programme.

STEPS provides practical funding and expert advice to help farmers make improvements that work for their farms and support local water quality.

Every farm is different, and STEPS is designed to help farmers identify the right action for the right farm. Like STEPS 2025, STEPS 2026 is based around 6 core objectives, all of which are designed to support your farm and benefit water quality. 

Last date for application will be 11 December 2026.

For more information about STEPS and to apply for a grant visit this page.

To find your catchment click here

Despite poor weather conditions this spring, over 1,200 submissions were made from across the UK to this year’s Big Farmland Bird Count organised by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust.

A total of 275,024 birds were counted over 292,828 hectares of farmland. This year 67% of farms surveyed were in an agri-environment scheme, with 64% providing supplementary feeding for birds on their farm. In total, 69,222 red-listed birds were counted including 34 different species, with the most abundant of those being starling (25,306), lapwing (19,198), and fieldfare (15,816).

Read all the results from the count on this page.

Defra has confirmed that the total budget for new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements will be £240 million.

Of the £240 million available for SFI26, up to £60 million has been allocated to Window 1, which is aimed at 2 groups: small farms and those without an existing Environmental Land Management revenue agreement. Window 1 is scheduled to open for applications from 30 June 2026. 

Any funding not allocated through Window 1 will be added to the budget for Window 2, which is due to open in September 2026 for all farmers and land managers. 

Defra intend to publish updates when 25%, 50% and 75% of the Window 1 budget is allocated. This approach is aimed to help avoid sudden, unexpected closures and provide greater transparency and certainty. We plan to do the same for Window 2. Read more here.

Read about the option available and payment rates here.

The Avian Influenza Prevention Zone in England, Scotland and Wales lifted on 04 June 2026. Strict biosecurity is still vital to protect the health and welfare of your birds. It’s also important to register with Defra if you’re a keeper of captive birds so that you can be contacted in the event of a bird flu outbreak. Read more here.

The tool is designed to help calculate the financial benefit of carrying out SFI26 actions. It will demonstrate how much income could be received from selecting SFI actions and the net benefit once the associated costs have been subtracted. The cost of carrying out an SFI action will vary from farm to farm depending on a variety of factors, including the set-up of the farm. The costs calculated for the SFI tool are based on averages and common assumptions. Visit this page to access the tool.

Defra expect to open the first application window for SFI 2026 on 30 June 2026 for 2 groups: 

They will invite a small number of farmers who are eligible for Window 1 to apply from around 18 June. This is to test and refine the application service in a controlled way. A second application window for all farms will open in September.

The SFI26 offer is an iterated version of the 2024 scheme and near-final information is now available. Most features remain the same, so it should look and feel familiar if you’ve applied before. Some improvements have been made to simplify and streamline the offer. Read more on this Defra blog post.

Defra has launched funded Poultry Biosecurity Reviews as part of the Animal Health and Welfare Pathway.

A Poultry Biosecurity Review is a funded vet visit designed to give you practical, site-specific advice based on how your business works.  You’ll receive £430 per review to help cover the cost of the visit. You can choose your own vet, arrange the visit at a time that works for you and pay them as usual, then claim the money back through the scheme. To be eligible for a funded visit you must have a SBI and CPH number and care for a minimum of 1000 hens or 500 geese/turkeys/ducks. Read more here.

A total of £225 million will be invested through capital grants this year to help farmers and land managers carry out environmental improvements across England.  Applications open in July, with funding available for a variety of capital items to support hedgerow and tree planting, restore boundaries, improve natural flood management, and support better air and water quality. 

Funding limits will apply to 4 of the groups: