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Welcome News from DEFRA

25 March 2024

New measures reaffirming how our environmental land management schemes work alongside food production by limiting the amount of land farmers can take out of productive actions under the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) have been announced today (Monday 25 March).

While there has been only limited evidence to date of farmers entering large amounts of their land into actions that take away food production, some of these actions were being used more than intended in a small number of cases. The changes will ensure the scheme continues to support farmers to produce food sustainably alongside improving the environment.

The scheme is designed to have maximum flexibility and to be simple to apply for, however we always said we would learn and adapt as new information became available. So, following feedback from the farming community, which has been considered throughout the development of SFI, there is consensus on the need to put in place some targeted restrictions.