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Guidance

SFI Handbook for the SFI 2023 offer

Guidance about how the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2023 offer will work for farmers.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Rural Payments Agency
Published:
21 June 2023
Last updated:
5 August 2025
Show all updates

  1. SW6 readded to table 18: Actions or options that can be located on the same area within a land parcel as IPM3

  2. Updated to reflect closure of SFI to new applications. Links checked and updated to ensure they are current.

  3. Updates to rotational SFI actions.

  4. An option has been added to CS in Table 18, and management payment top-up information has also been added

  5. Section 2, page 15: addition of text about rotational SFI actions. For more detail, read the list of changes for November 2024 in the 'SFI handbook updates for the SFI 2023 offer'.

  6. Latest version of the How to apply for SFI document added, which includes information about SFI limited area actions. Updated the SFI handbook updates document.

  7. Handbook updated with information about SFI capping actions.

  8. Various edits made to the handbook under 1.2.2 Additional payments section, 3.2.2 How to apply for an SFI agreement and 1.2.5 About SFI agreements and payments.

  9. Update to SFI management payment. Update to additional payment for common land. Update to action IGL3. Updated the management payment to reflect change to £40/ha for the first year of agreements and the additional payment for common land is £7/ha.

  10. The government is introducing new measures to limit the amount of land farmers can take out of productive actions.

  11. How to Apply for SFI 2023 guidance added

  12. Removed the current handbook for 2023 SFI offers and replaced this with an updated version, and a separate PDF with the SFI updates only.

  13. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

SFI Handbook for the SFI 2023 offer

PDF, 2.1 MB, 161 pages

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SFI Handbook updates for the SFI 2023 offer

PDF, 228 KB, 15 pages

This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

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If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need a version of this document in a more accessible format, please email Webmaster.RPA@rpa.gov.uk. Please tell us what format you need. It will help us if you say what assistive technology you use.

Details

The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Handbook for the SFI 2023 offer includes the scheme information for SFI agreements containing the environmental land management actions in the SFI 2023 offer.

If you already have an SFI standards agreement containing the 3 existing SFI standards for soils and moorland we introduced in June 2022 (the ‘SFI 2022 standards’), read the guidance for existing SFI 2022 standards agreement holders. These SFI 2022 standards will be replaced by the new SFI actions for soils and moorland from summer 2023.

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