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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether farmers in Higher Level Stewardship schemes will be able to apply for the new Sustainable Farming Incentive schemes.

Our approach to transitioning farmers from existing agreements into the new schemes is under review and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is currently closed for new applications. We will provide further details about the reformed SFI in summer 2025.

We encourage those with existing Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements to continue with this scheme. We’re investing £30 million to increase HLS payment rates so farmers in HLS agreements can continue to restore habitats, support rare species, preserve historic features and maintain traditional landscape features in our iconic countryside.