DEFRA have recently published an update on their farming blog which confirms their commitment to the ongoing transition to environmental land management schemes (ELMs). As of the 16^th of July, there were over 65,400 live agreements across all of DEFRA’s agri-environment schemes, the highest number of live agri-environment scheme agreements in history. One exciting development is that capital grants for some agroforestry items and for the creation of an agroforestry plan are now available through the stand alone Capital Grant scheme.

 

The process of ELM schemes has been regularly reviewed and that will continue to be the case throughout the rollout of the expanded SFI offer for 2024. If you want to apply for the expanded SFI offer, then you should register your interest with the RPA Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management. The RPA are inviting those who have registered their interest to apply as part of the controlled rollout, with some agreement offers already having gone out to applicants. Some of the wording for actions has been updated to clarify what the actions require: these changes are listed within the action on the Find funding for land or farms - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) page. Voluntary guidance has also been created for each SFI action which outlines good practice and examples of how to achieve the actions.

 

An expanded SFI agreement can be stand alone or it could be in addition to an existing CS or SFI agreement, if the actions are compatible and you will not be paid twice for the same activity. Guidance on ending your existing agreement to apply for a new scheme was published in May (Ending your existing agreement to apply for a new scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)/. However, care needs to be taken to assess the financial reward/risk in doing so, given that this could cause a significant gap between agreements. The SFI scheme guidance has been updated including technical changes and there is more information on what supplemental options can be added to base options (e.g GRH7 Hay making supplement will be available on the same area as GRH6 Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland).

 

The RPA has also confirmed that if you have an existing agreement for the SFI 2023 offer which contains a base action (AHL2 Winter bird food, LIG1 or LIG2 Low input grassland) that  you will be able to apply for eligible supplemental actions in a separate agreement for the expanded SFI offer (e.g AHW2 Supplementary winter bird food and GRH7 Hay making supplement). The RPA will release further guidance on when you can do this.

 

Some SFI actions that target priority habitats or species, and heritage features, are known as endorsed actions. The first will be GRH6: Manage priority habitat species-rich grassland. More information will be available soon on endorsed options. The process will be to submit an application featuring the endorsed action, Natural England or Historic England will then be in contact to confirm suitability of the option prior to an agreement being offered. To avoid a delay in being offered an agreement, you could choose to apply separately for an agreement with endorsed SFI actions.

 

The capital grants offer is still available as a standalone scheme and new options have been added, including items for agroforestry (plan, trees and guarding options) and moorland.

 

Written by Sarah Wells, Senior Adviser FWAG SW

 

Useful links:

Capital Grants 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

SFI scheme information: expanded offer for 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

SFI terms and conditions