Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will undertake a review of the Sustainable Farming Incentive application system; and whether she will make it her policy to enable smaller farmers to apply for the next funding round before their current agreement ends.

As announced at the recent NFU Conference, a range of improvements will be introduced to make SFI26 a simpler, more streamlined offer and easier to navigate.

One change is the introduction of two application windows, to ensure as many farmers as possible can benefit from a SFI agreement.

Small farms with existing agreements will be able to apply in either Window 1 or Window 2.

Farms over 50 hectares with existing agreements will be able to apply in Window 2.