The second Sustainable Farming Incentive window has closed less than 12 hours after opening, Defra has confirmed.
The government scheme offering farming businesses £233m to produce food more sustainably and become more resilient opened its second window this morning.
Although £183m was initially earmarked, £53m in extra funding was added thanks to a £50m “boost” announced by PM Andy Burnham in August and £3m left over from the first window, which received 7,000 applications and resulted in 3,100 agreements signed.
Unlike the first window, all farmers and land managers with over three hectares of land can apply for the second window and it stayed open until all of its funding was allocated.
The government also said around 21,000 farms whose current environment land management schemes are set to expire by the end of February will be able to apply for their next agreement early.
This includes any small farms who held off applying in the first window so they could use the early-application option.
“We built this year’s Sustainable Farming Incentive to be simpler and fairer, so farmers don’t carry the risk of a changing climate alone, and they have responded in force,” said farming minister Stephen Morgan.
“This is a scheme that works for farmers, backs food production, and delivers practical, sustainable land management, supporting the aims of our Farming Roadmap, our long-term plan for English farming.”
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