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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the access tenant and family farmers have had to advice on applying for the Sustainable Farming Incentive and the Environmental Land Management farm schemes given the short time for which such schemes have been open.

We share guidance about Environmental Land Management (ELM) and other scheme offers on our farming blog and on the relevant scheme pages at gov.uk. Details of the expanded SFI 2024 offer were first shared at https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2024/05/22/this-years-sustainable-farming-incentive-offer/) on 22 May 2024. Defra and the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) regularly attend industry events to share scheme offers and advice with farmers. The RPA helpline supports farmers, including tenant and family farmers, with general questions about SFI and other ELM schemes on their helpline

Furthermore, for the beginning of the agricultural transition, the Farming Resilience Fund (FRF) provided free business support to farmers and land managers in England. FRF was available from October 2022 to March 2025.