What to do before you apply for an SFI agreement
Find out what to do before you apply for an SFI agreement.
Applies to England
Before you apply for a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement, you need to make sure that:
- you’ve read and understand the mandatory scheme requirements, which are explained in ‘Read the mandatory scheme requirements’ below.
- you’re eligible to apply
- your land is eligible, and its registered details are up to date on your digital maps
- your contact details are up to date and your permissions are correctly set for SFI in the Rural Payments service
These are explained in more detail below.
Read the mandatory scheme requirements
Before you apply, you should read the mandatory scheme requirements carefully to make sure you understand what you’re agreeing to do.
The mandatory scheme requirements are contained in:
- the SFI actions you choose – read the ‘Details of the SFI actions’
- your SFI agreement’s terms and conditions – which are further explained in eligible land for an SFI agreement and about SFI agreements and payments
When you enter an SFI agreement, you’ll declare that:
- you understand the mandatory scheme requirements
- you’ll comply with the mandatory scheme requirements, including that you expect to have management control of the land, for the duration of your 3-year SFI agreement
Check you’re eligible to apply for an SFI agreement
To be eligible to apply for an SFI agreement you need to have been a Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) eligible farmer on either 16 May 2022 or 15 May 2023.
This will be the case if, on either of these dates, the Single Business Identifier (SBI) that’s applying for an SFI agreement had both of the following:
- at least 5 hectares (ha) of BPS eligible land – this does not set a minimum eligible area you can enter into an SFI agreement as there is no minimum area for an agreement
- 5 or more BPS entitlements
Your business (SBI) does not need to have applied for BPS in 2022 or 2023, or to have received BPS payments in the past.
We’re currently only allowing BPS eligible farmers to apply for an SFI agreement. This is because their details are already registered with the RPA. In future, we’ll allow a wider range of farmers to apply. This will not happen before 2024.
If you want to apply for an SFI agreement on common land, this BPS eligibility requirement works differently. Read the information on eligibility of common land and shared grazing
What if you’ve applied for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme
If you’ve applied for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme in 2022 and received the lump sum payment, you will not usually be eligible to apply for an SFI agreement, unless you repay the lump sum.
The only exception to this is if a partnership or limited company applied for the Lump Sum Exit Scheme and only some of the partners or shareholders left the business. In this case, the remaining partners or shareholders are eligible to apply for an SFI agreement without repaying the lump sum.
Check your land is eligible and it’s up to date on your digital maps
Before you apply, check that your land is eligible for an SFI agreement. You also need to check that its registered details shown on your digital maps are up to date.
How to view your digital maps
To view your digital maps, sign in to the Rural Payments service. From your ‘Business overview’ screen, select ‘Land’ and ‘View land’. Common land is not shown on your digital maps. Instead, you can check the maps we’ve previously provided.
What to check on your digital maps
Check each land parcel you’ll be including in your SFI application is shown on your digital maps. This means it’s already registered with us and linked to your SBI. Read the glossary to find out what we mean by an SBI.
You also need to check that each land parcel you want to include in your SFI application has correctly registered:
- land cover(s), which describes the broad category the land is and includes arable land, permanent grassland, permanent crops or non-agricultural area
- permanent boundaries, such as permanent fences, hedgerows, watercourses, as explained in the RLE1 guidance
If these registered land details are not up to date, this may affect the land you can include in your SFI application. If the land details need to be updated, ask us to do this before you apply for an SFI agreement.
Checking land cover
When you view each land parcel on your digital maps in the Rural Payments service, you’ll see that it has one or more registered land covers. The land cover identifies what broad category the land is.
There are 3 agricultural land covers shown on digital maps:
- arable land
- permanent grassland
- permanent crops
There are also a number of non-agricultural land covers, such as woodland or farm buildings.
For each land parcel you want to use for an SFI action, check that the land cover shown on your digital maps is compatible with the land use code declared for a BPS 2023 application (a ‘compatible land cover’).
You can find out which land covers are compatible with each land use code in the details of the SFI actions (under ‘Where you can do this action’ for each SFI action).
The table below sets out some examples of land use codes and compatible land covers.
Land use codes and compatible land cover
| Examples of land use codes | Compatible land cover |
|---|---|
| TG01 (temporary grassland) | Arable land |
| FA01 (fallow land) | Arable land |
| AC66 (winter wheat) | Arable land |
| PG01 (permanent grassland) | Permanent grassland |
| TC01 (permanent crops) | Permanent crops |
| WO12 (woodland) | Other (non-agricultural area) |
| AB01 (farm buildings) | Other (non-agricultural area) |
Checking hedgerows
You do not need to check your hedgerows on your digital maps before you apply for the SFI actions for hedgerows (HRW1, HRW2 or HRW3).
In your SFI application, you’ll tell us the length of eligible hedgerows you want to enter into HRW1, HRW2 or HRW3 for each land parcel. This length should correspond with what’s present on the ground in the relevant land parcel.
Once your SFI agreement starts, we may ask you to submit an RLE1 form and sketch map if we find that no hedgerows are shown on your digital maps for the relevant land parcel.
How to ask us to update your registered land details
You’ll usually need to use an RLE1 form and sketch map to ask us to:
- register a land parcel
- update the registered land cover(s)
- update the registered permanent boundaries, including hedgerows
You can email the electronic RLE1 form to ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk.
Read the RLE1 guidance for guidance on how to complete the RLE1 form and sketch maps.
After you’ve asked us to update your registered land details, you’ll need to wait for us to complete that request before you continue with your SFI application. We’ll let you know when this has been done.
If the land parcel has already been registered by someone else, you can get it linked to your SBI so it shows on your digital maps by using the add land by email service.
| Land details to update | How to update them |
|---|---|
| Multiple land covers in a land parcel | Submit an RLE1 form and sketch maps clearly marked with the land covers and areas |
| A single land cover for a whole land parcel if there are more than 5 land parcels | Submit an RLE1 form and sketch maps clearly marked with the land covers and areas |
| A single land cover for a whole land parcel if there are 5 or fewer land parcels | Call us on 03000 200 301 (lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm) or use the online form that’s available in your SFI application in the Rural Payments service |
| Permanent boundaries | Submit an RLE1 form and sketch maps clearly marked with the new permanent boundaries |
| Link a registered land parcel to your SBI | Use the add land by email service |
| Register a new land parcel | Submit an RLE1 form and sketch maps |
Check your contact details and permissions
Sign in to the Rural Payments service to check:
- your registered contact details are up to date – we’ll use the registered business details, including the business email address, to contact you about your SFI application and agreement
- your permissions are set correctly to start and submit an SFI application – you can do this from your ‘Business overview’ and select ‘Give people permission to act for this business’
The permissions you’ll need to start and submit an SFI application are either ‘Business Details: Full’ or ‘BPS: Submit’. You can also start an SFI application if you have ‘BPS: Amend’ permission, but you cannot submit it.
If you do not have the required permission on the service, you’ll need to ask someone with ‘Business Details: Full’ permission for the business to change your permission.
If you want someone else to apply for an SFI agreement on your behalf, they need to be registered in the Rural Payments service and you need to give them the required permission.
Last updated 17 August 2023 + show all updates
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Guidance updated for checking hedgerows.
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First published.