The recent Defra announcement of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) 2026 offer provides greater clarity on how environmental funding may look over the next few years. While the scheme has been streamlined, with 71 actions now available compared with 102 previously, it remains an important route for farm businesses to secure income.

The first application window is expected to open in June for smaller farms and those without existing agreements, followed by a second window open to all farms in September. It’s unclear how long individual application windows will remain open, so those who have already assessed their options and prepared a plan will be in a much stronger position to act when applications open.

Ahead of the application windows opening and to ensure you’re in a position to respond quickly we’re supporting growers now to consider how SFI fits within the wider direction of the farm business.

Start with your farm business objectives

Before selecting individual SFI actions, it helps to step back and consider the broader aims of the farm business.

Funding schemes are most effective when they support existing business objectives rather than shaping them. These objectives may include improving soil health, strengthening business resilience, supporting succession planning, or integrating environmental delivery with crop production.

The SFI 2026 offer reinforces the importance of careful planning, as several changes will directly affect how much value and flexibility agreements can deliver:

• Agreements will be capped at £100,000 per year

• Each business can only hold one SFI26 agreement

• Rotational action areas cannot be increased beyond the agreed area in the first year

As a result, the initial design of an agreement becomes particularly important. Selecting the right actions and areas from the outset is critical. It ensures funding works alongside the cropping rotation, labour availability and longer-term agronomic strategy.

Understand what funding opportunities are available

Although SFI is the most widely discussed scheme, it represents only one part of a wider and evolving funding landscape.

Public funding now sits alongside a growing number of private environmental markets and supply chain programmes. When approached strategically, these opportunities can complement each other and potentially generate multiple income streams.

Understanding the full range of available funding and how schemes interact is becoming increasingly important when building a robust business case.

Assess your farm’s baseline

The next step is understanding your farm’s current position. Establishing a clear baseline helps identify where funding can deliver meaningful environmental improvements while maintaining productive land use. Key considerations include:

• Areas that are difficult to farm or do not perform well

• Biomass or yield data to highlight variations across fields

• Benchmarking against similar farms or historical performance

• Soil condition and organic matter

• Field margins and habitats

• Existing environmental agreements

• Rotation and cropping plans

• Water management and nutrient use

On many farms, around 3-5% of the land is under-performing. Understanding these areas, alongside your overall baseline, makes it easier to target actions where they are most practical to implement and most beneficial to the wider farming system, as well as overall productivity and profitability.

Planning ahead will make the difference

With application windows opening later in 2026, the greatest value from SFI is likely to come when it is integrated into a wider farm business strategy rather than operating as a standalone scheme.

Starting this process now allows time to review business objectives, assess available funding streams, understand the farm’s environmental baseline, and build an agreement that works across the whole business.

Importantly, these planning principles are not unique to SFI. Similar themes are emerging across other public funding schemes, including Wales’ Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) and Scotland’s evolving agricultural support framework. While the detail may differ, the direction of travel is consistent, with a greater focus on outcomes, integration and whole-farm thinking.

Taking a proactive, strategic approach now will place your business in a stronger position to respond as opportunities open, helping to maximise the value of both current and future funding schemes.

Frontier’s 8 Steps to Funding approach is designed to support this process, helping farm businesses make the most of both public and private funding opportunities while building and strengthening long-term resilience.

Don't leave your SFI funding to chance. Talk to your Frontier advisor today to discuss your approach and ensure your farm is ready to move the moment the window opens.

Plus, download the Environmental Crops catalogue now to find the right mix for your agri-environment goals.