02 Jun 2026 SFI opened on 30 June for farms 3-50 ha and those without an ELMS agreement

Defra opened the first application window for SFI 2026 on 30 June 2026 for 2 groups: 

• small farms (3-50 ha)
• farms without an existing Environmental Land Management (ELM) revenue agreement 

A second application window for all farms will open in September.

The SFI26 offer is an iterated version of the 2024 scheme. 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.

You can watch a recording of a 1 hour 20 mins webinar run by Defra on SFI26 on this link.

Watch an RPA video on You Tube which explains how to apply for SFI on this link.

** On 6 July Defra announced that 50% of the budget for SFI 2026 has already been allocated **