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Know How / ELM

The Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme will replace basic payments to farmers in England. The scheme will provide payments for farming that improves the environment and mitigates climate change, such as hedge planting and river management.

We explain the details as they emerge to help farmers understand how they will qualify for payments under the scheme.

Advice and tips

PAYMENTS, SCHEMES AND GRANTS

Stacking income: What is it and how to do it on farm

Volatile prices and weather extremes have added risk and uncertainty to farm businesses while dwindling government support has caused a shortfall between pre- and post-Brexit incomes. To make up that…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

A guide to staying SFI compliant

Unlike more rigid support schemes of the past, the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is all about giving farmers greater flexibility to make actions work for their farm, while simultaneously delivering…

ARABLE

How SFI grassy corners and blocks can work most effectively

Grassy corners and blocks are perhaps potentially one of simplest of all the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) options to implement, but, as ever, to deliver the maximum benefit for the…

BUSINESS

How to bounce back from bad weather and drop in farm support

Labelled as a perfect storm, declining support payments, a new government, extreme weather and market disruption have combined to cause uncertainty and put incomes under pressure in 2024. Transition from…

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Case studies

OILSEED RAPE

Oilseed rape grower sees helping hand from SFI

Hampshire oilseed rape grower Dick Hall is earning £369/ha from environmental payments, allowing the crop to rival winter wheat for profitability and making rapeseed the best break crop he can…

ARABLE

How SFI actions closely align with Herefordshire mixed farm

Chris Greenaway, farm manager at Garnstone Farms in Herefordshire is advising farmers to make the most of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), given the accelerated reduction in Basic Payment Scheme…

GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT

Why simple herbal ley mix benefits Durham mixed farm

Government clarification that growing one herb, one legume, and one grass together qualifies as a herbal ley under the Sustainable Farming Incentive is grist to the mill of a County…

ARABLE

How nature focus helps profits rise on east Kent farm

A switch to nature-friendly farming is boosting profitability on one east Kent farm, with inputs slashed, soils improved and price premiums gained as grain yields are held at high levels.…

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Insights

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Do agri-environment schemes deliver for nature?

Agri-environment schemes have been around for decades, aiming to improve habitats, protect nature, boost soil health, cut pollution, and help fight climate change. There are more than 40 public and…

FARM POLICY

Analysis: SFI returns in 2026, but doubts linger

After months of uncertainty, Defra has confirmed that England’s Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) will reopen in 2026, in a bid to rebuild confidence after the scheme’s abrupt closure last March.…

FARM POLICY

Post-Brexit farm support - how is Defra spending the money?

One of the reasons many farmers voted for Brexit in 2016 was because they were so fed up with Brussels red tape. Our survey at the time, run in the…

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News

FARM POLICY

Below-cost SFI payments spark farmer backlash

Proposals to cut Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) payment rates to levels below income forgone have prompted stark warnings from industry leaders, who say the move would force some farmers out…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

Defra sets out two-window SFI return in 2026

English farmers have been given long-awaited clarity on the future of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), after Defra confirmed the scheme will reopen in 2026 through two application windows, with…

BUSINESS

NFU demands more clarity on SFI 2026 reopening

The NFU has warned that farmers urgently need more detail on Defra’s plans to reopen the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFI), despite confirmation that two application windows will open in 2026.…

FARM POLICY

New SFI 'must support smaller farms' says Defra minister

The new iteration of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), expected in 2026, must support smaller farms and be simpler to engage with, Defra farming minister Dame Angela Eagle has said.…

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Video

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Video: Trade and food security top concerns for Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrats have passed a wide-ranging motion pledging better support for British farmers to produce food more sustainably, protect the environment and uphold their high standards in trade deals.…

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