Glossary of terms for the SFI 2023 offer
Find out what the technical terms used in the scheme information for the SFI 2023 offer mean.
Applies to England
Glossary of terms used in the scheme information for the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2023 offer
Change of circumstances
Something that happens for reasons within or outside your control which means you cannot do what’s required under your SFI agreement.
Financial assistance schemes
Schemes for giving financial assistance under section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020.
Land cover
Land cover describes what broad category the land is. It’s shown on digital maps in the Rural Payments service. There are 3 agricultural land covers – arable, permanent grassland and permanent crops. There are also a number of non-agricultural land covers, such as farmyards and woodland.
Land type
Land type describes what the land is used for, such as different types of permanent grassland and permanent crops.
Land use code
A land use code is usually declared for the purposes of a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) application. It describes what the broad land cover category registered on your digital maps is being used for. For example, PG01 (permanent grassland).
Moorland line
The moorland lines encloses land in England that’s been defined as predominantly semi-natural upland vegetation, or predominantly of rock outcrops and semi-natural vegetation, used primarily for rough grazing. You can check MAGIC to find out if your land is above the moorland line.
Rotational actions
SFI actions which can be moved around your land each year of your 3-year SFI agreement.
Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA)
These are areas of land which are part of the Less Favoured Areas (LFAs). LFAs are areas where the natural characteristics (such as geology, altitude and climate) make farming the land difficult. LFAs include SDAs and Disadvantaged Areas. You can check MAGIC to find out if your land is in an SDA.
Single Business Identifier (SBI)
A unique 9-digit number given to a farmer or business that’s involved in an agricultural activity. Your SBI can be found in most correspondence from the RPA or by signing into the Rural Payments service and looking at your ‘business details’.
SFI available area
The area of land we automatically calculate may be eligible for each area based SFI action you choose in your SFI application. There are some SFI actions which can only be done on the total SFI available area and other SFI actions which can be done on either the total area or part of it. Each SFI action explains this under ‘Where you can do the action’. Read What land is eligible for an SFI agreement to find out more about the ‘SFI available area’.
Static actions
SFI actions you can only do on the same area of land each year of your 3-year SFI agreement.