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

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support farmers in accessing the Sustainable Farming Initiative 2026 budget, and in forward planning for 2027 and 2028.

Sustainable Farming Initiative 2026 (SFI26) Window 1 opened last month for small farms with between three and 50 hectares and also farms without an existing Environmental Land Management agreement.

This Government is specifically targeting these two groups because it wants to bring more of them into SFI.

Defra is publishing updates on how much of each application window’s budget has been allocated on the department’s Farming Blog, so farmers can follow the rate of applications.

Window 2 is planned to open from September 2026 for all farms.

This department will announce the timing of the SFI27 offer in due course.