It is fair to say the past year has been a challenging one for agri environment support. 2025 saw the unexpected closure of the Sustainable Farming Incentive, delays to the rollout of higher tier agreements, and a short, one month window for capital grants.

As we look ahead to the return of SFI and capital grants this summer, one lesson stands out clearly. Preparation matters. Having your paperwork, maps, and permissions in order before schemes open can make the difference between a smooth application and a missed opportunity.

At Weald to Waves, our Landscape Advisor is available to support pledged members with this process. This blog sets out the key eligibility criteria for SFI26 and capital grants, along with practical tips to help avoid last minute issues when applications open.

SFI26 Overview

SFI26 is expected to open this year in two application windows.

The first window, opening in June, is aimed at small farms. These are defined as holdings with up to 50 hectares of agricultural land. Agricultural land includes arable land, permanent grassland, and permanent crops.

For example, a 60 hectare farm with 10 hectares of woodland and 50 hectares of permanent grassland would still be eligible, as it meets the threshold for agricultural land.

This June window will also be open to farms that have not previously received payments through Environmental Land Management revenue schemes. This includes SFI, Countryside Stewardship mid tier or higher tier, and Environmental Stewardship schemes.

You are still eligible if you have previously taken part in capital grant schemes, private sector agreements, or Landscape Recovery projects.

You only need to meet one of the eligibility routes above to apply. However, in both cases you must have at least 3 hectares of agricultural land at the time of application and be registered with the Rural Payments Agency since January 1st 2026.

Top Tip 1, Check your RPA details

To apply for SFI you will do so through your RPA account. Your RPA account contains a map of your farm. If the map is wrong, it may prevent you from applying for SFI.

• • Map is missing land parcels: if parcels are missing you may not reach the agricultural land threshold needed to apply.
  • Incorrect total area of land parcels: land parcels can sometimes be divided into sections where there is more than one type of land use in a field. These are called land covers. All these areas must match the total area of the parcel, or you may get an error message.
  • Incorrect Land use codes: Each land cover is assigned a land use code E.G. PG01 for permanent grassland. Different SFI options are compatible with different land use codes so you must ensure these are assigned correctly otherwise the computer system may prevent you from applying for certain options.

To make edits in any of these scenarios please read “How to update your digital maps online”. To make paper edits please read “how to update your digital maps using an RLE1 form”

If you are using an agent to apply for SFI you need to ensure that you have given them the right permissions within your RPA account to apply on your behalf. An agent will need on of the following permissions to apply:

• • ‘Business Details: Full’
  • ‘BPS: Submit’
  • ‘CS Applications: Submit’

To update permissions visit “how to give or update permissions in the Rural Payments service”.

Top Tip 2, Download an SFI HEFER

A HEFER, Historic Environment Farm Environment Record, identifies historic features across your land.

Some SFI options are not compatible with land containing historic features, while others may support their protection. Downloading an SFI HEFER before applying ensures you can place options appropriately and avoid conflicts.

You can access HEFERs through the HEFER portal.

Top Tip 3, Avoid eligibility errors

There are three main ways you may be run into eligibility errors as you apply.

If your application exceeds the £100,000 threshold you will be prevented from submitting your application. I recommend mapping out all the actions across your parcels in excel before hand so your certain your agreement falls under the threshold.

You may receive an error if you have too much land assigned to a “limited area action”. There are 10 of these actions in total, and land assigned to any or multiple of these actions cannot exceed 25% of the total are of your farm. These actions are listed in the SFI26 farming blog.

Finally, you may receive an error code if an action you are assigning to a field parcel is incompatible with action assigned to this field under a previous ELMs scheme. When they release the full details of SFI26 each action will have a page describing its eligibility requirements and what you can and can’t do under the rules of that action. This page will also include a table listing all the compatible actions under the previous schemes. When the actions are released, we will notify members via our WhatsApp group, so do not hesitate to join if you haven’t already.

Goodluck to everyone applying in the June window and if there is still any uncertainty about the application process, please contact our landscape advisor.