SFI 2026 – details, definitions and what to expect

Defra has announced that the SFI26 offer will be simpler, with fewer actions and less complexity while still having plenty of actions available for all farm types, so you can pick the actions that best fit your farm.  The new offer includes 71 actions, down from 102 in the SFI24 offer. In practice, this means 31 actions have been removed (around one‑third of the previous offer).  They have focused on removing actions with low uptake or those that delivered less for food production, the environment, or our wider environmental targets.  Payments will also be capped at £100,000 per farm.  Window 1 will open in June 2026 and will remain open for around 2 months – although it may close sooner if demand is high and the Window 1 budget is fully allocated. It will be open to both small farms and also farms without an existing environmental land management (ELM) revenue agreement.  Window 2 will open in September 2026 for all farms.   For full information on the scheme, read this Defra blog post.