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Guidance

Sustainable Farming Incentive privacy notice

Updated 12 August 2026

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2026

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sustainable-farming-incentive-privacy-notice/sustainable-farming-incentive-privacy-notice

Privacy notice for the Sustainable Farming Incentive 2023, 2024, 2026, plus future years’ schemes.

1. Purpose for Processing

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is government environmental land management scheme. It pays farmers land managers to do sustainable land management activities that:

  • protect and benefit the environment
  • support food production
  • improve productivity

The Sustainable Farming Incentive includes the following schemes:

  • SFI23
  • SFI24
  • SFI26

Currently only SFI26 is open for applications

We use your personal data to deliver and manage the SFI schemes. This includes using your data to:

  • process your application and offer an agreement
  • manage your agreement, including performing checks on your agreement to ensure eligibility requirements continue to be met
  • make payments
  • contact you regarding your application or agreement
  • monitor compliance with the terms and conditions of agreements; including conducting Site Visits
  • evaluate scheme performance, including value for money, environmental outcomes and uptake of actions, to inform future policy decisions

2. Why we are able to process your personal data

The law allows us to process your personal data under article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). We are allowed to process personal data when we need to carry out a public task.

We have a legal obligation to provide beneficiary data to Defra, who publish it to meet the requirements of the Agriculture (Financial Assistance) Regulations 2021.

3. What personal data we process

The information that we collect and process is:

  • customer registration information
  • bank account information
  • county parish holding (CPH) number and Single Business Identifier (SBI)
  • land use data
  • field parcel reference numbers
  • inspections data
  • eligibility, applications, details of payments
  • details of anyone who acts for you, for example an agent
  • details of any interactions with the RPA by phone or email
  • details of agricultural activity

We may process your personal data including your email address in any questions or feedback you send to us. We may also use your information to contact you about future grants and updates to farming policy that would be relevant to you

4. Your responsibility with other people’s personal data

If you’ve included personal data about other people in your records, you must tell them. You must provide them with a copy of this privacy notice so that they know how their personal data will be used.

5. Where your personal data is stored

We store, transfer and process your personal data on our servers in the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU).

6. How long we keep your personal data

We keep your information for:

  • 3 years for Expressions of Interest, or where the application does not progress to an agreement
  • 7 years from the end of the agreement for those accepted onto the SFI Pilot or future years’ schemes

Please refer to our Personal Information Charter and the section ‘How long we will keep data’ for information on any potential exceptions.

7. Who we share your personal data with

We share your personal data with:

  • RPA
  • Defra group
  • Natural England
  • Forestry Commission
  • Joint Nature Conservation Committee
  • Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate
  • Welsh Government Rural Payments Wales
  • third party contractors working on behalf of the Defra group (for example, the University of Oxford)
  • other public bodies and their accredited agents, both nationally and locally, with a vested responsibility for the public good and the environment

8. Your rights

Read our Personal Information Charter to find out your rights under the General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018).

9. How to make a complaint

If you have concerns about how RPA uses your personal data, please read how to get in touch or make a complaint.

 

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