Sustainable Farming Incentive: An Overview

6th November 2024

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers and land managers to take up or maintain sustainable farming and land management practices that protect and benefit the environment, support food production and improve productivity. Agreements are for a period of 3 years and payments are made quarterly.

The SFI Actions are split into 14 different action categories:

Action Category…	Action example…
Agroforestry	Maintain very low density in-field agroforestry on less sensitive land
Boundary features	managing hedgerows, maintaining dry stone walls
Buffer strips	4m to 12m grass buffer strips, 6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses
Farmland wildlife on arable and horticultural land	grassy field corners, basic and enhanced overwinter stubble
Farmland wildlife and habitats on grassland	take areas out of management, manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs
Heritage	maintain weatherproof traditional farm or forestry buildings
Integrated pest management	Assess integrated pest management and produce a plan
Moorland	Assess moorland and produce a written record
Nutrient management	Assess nutrient management and produce a review report
Organic farming	Organic land management – improved permanent grassland
Precision farming	Camera or remote sensor guided herbicide spraying
Species recovery and management	Supplement: Keep native breeds on grazed habitats (50-80%)
Soil health	Assess soil, produce a soil management plan and test soil organic matter, herbal leys
Waterbodies	Manage intensive grassland adjacent to a watercourse, Remove livestock from intensive grassland during the autumn and winter

Above are just a small number of actions available and there is currently no cap on the total value of agreements. In addition to the action payments those entered into an agreement will receive a management payment of £40 / hectare in the first year and £20 / hectare in years two and three for up to the first 50 hectares.

If you would like more information on the Sustainable Farming Incentive actions, then please contact our team.