Defra is to re-open the SFI 2024 for those applicants who had started their application, but had not submitted it, before it was closed without notice on 11th March 2025. A threatened legal challenge by the NFU asserting that Defra had acted illegally by suddenly closing the SFI without giving the 6-weeks notice period has made the Department do a (partial) U-turn.
In a written Ministerial Statement, Daniel Zeichner, has said applicants who started an SFI application within 2 months of 11th March 2025 (i.e. on or after 12th January) but did not submit it by that date will be given 6 weeks to complete an application. Defra has said there are about 3,000 businesses in this situation and it will contact them to confirm if they are eligible and, if so, what the next steps will be, including when the 6 weeks application window will open and close. However, agreements will only be offered subject to the following restrictions;
- only one application may be submitted per farm business
- agreements will be offered up to a maximum value of £9,300 per annum for the duration of the agreement (excluding the SFI Management Payment). Apparently this maximum value reflects the median average agreement value for existing SFI 2024 agreements.
- agreement holders will not be able to add more land to ‘rotational’ SFI actions after Year 1 of their agreement
Mr Zeichner has said there needs to be a cap on payments due to the budget for the SFI 2024 scheme having already been fully allocated, meaning any further agreements entered into under the SFI 2024 scheme will need to be funded from other areas of Defra’s departmental budget. He has said ‘I have therefore borne in mind the need to avoid creating unfairness to others or undermining other important objectives by unreasonably diverting funds from the wider Farming and Countryside programme’.
In terms of the other groups of farmers who were told they would be able to submit an application after the closure date – farmers who were in the SFI Pilot, assisted digital applications, and applicants with known system issues that prevented them from submitting applications, according to the statement they will also be contacted shortly.
The Statement also refers to what might be available in the future – ‘SFI remains closed to new applications for the time being, pending the launch of the reformed SFI offer, which we will publish more detail about this summer. Work on this offer is already well underway; we’re developing it in partnership with sector stakeholders and the scheme will target public funds more effectively to meet the needs of both farmers and the environment.’
If you found this article useful, there are numerous additional articles published each month on our Professional Update bulletin service. You can access a no obligation 90-day free trial via the link below.
Sign up to the Professional Update
