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Know How / Environmental schemes

Each of the UK’s devolved administrations has its own agri-environment scheme – for example, the Countryside Stewardship Scheme in England and the Agri-environment Climate Scheme in Scotland.

Find out what’s involved in signing up to a ‘green scheme’ and get practical tips on putting together your application.

Advice and tips

ARABLE

Five ways to get your farm ready for SFI window 2

With window 2 of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI26) opening in September 2026, farmers and land managers are advised to be ready for a competitive application period. With £180m allocated,…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

BNG update: What the latest rule changes mean for farmers

Recent rule changes mean many small building projects will no longer have to comply with the biodiversity net gain (BNG) regime. While this will remove some demand for biodiversity units,…

PAYMENTS, SCHEMES AND GRANTS

Advice on preparing for September's SFI26 application window

The Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 has now been opened to applications from smaller farms and those without a current ELM agreement for almost a month, following last year’s abrupt closure…

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

What farmers can do to protect newly planted trees

A record 20,660ha of woodland were created in 2023-24, with more than 20m new trees planted across the UK. But significant tree losses during the early growing phase are slowing…

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Case studies

SOILS

How nature-friendly practices built farm's climate resilience

Herbal leys, cover crops, contour cropping and 30m buffer areas are at the heart of Rob Atkin’s strategy to improve soil health, manage grassweeds and protect water quality on his…

ARABLE

Herts farmer shows how production and biodiversity combine

A Hertfordshire arable farmer has won the prestigious Silver Lapwing Award for his long-standing commitment to species and habitat conservation. Andrew Bott of Finches Farm, Benington, was recognised by the…

CROP MANAGEMENT

How growers returned environmental schemes back to cropping

Land in environmental stewardship schemes returning to the arable rotation must be managed carefully to avoid unintended weed burdens. We talk to two growers about how they have managed the…

ARABLE

Suffolk farm faces tough decisions on environmental measures

Farmers are facing tough decisions on the future of environmental measures, as the Countryside Stewardship (CS) scheme will end by December this year and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) is…

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Insights

FARM POLICY

Private money, public goods – are farmers in control?

Private finance has been touted for decades as a way of bringing new money into agriculture while helping businesses secure more resilient supply chains and meet environmental commitments. Now, it…

PAYMENTS, SCHEMES AND GRANTS

Tiered farm support in Scotland: How the system works

EU-era subsidies in Scotland have been replaced with a four-tier system intended to deliver food security, support rural livelihoods, and tackle the climate and nature crises. Under the umbrella of…

BUSINESS

Tax treatment of ecosystem services – HMRC guidance issued

HMRC has at last published guidance on the taxation of income and expenses for providing certain nature or ecosystem services. This covers statutory schemes such as biodiversity net gain (BNG)…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

How funding fears are holding back carbon market

Farmers should press on with tracking on-farm emissions data, even as hopes dwindle that sequestering carbon will become a significant income generator, experts have said. Many of the biggest businesses…

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News

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

SFI26: The haves and have-nots

The 2026 Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) created clear winners and losers, with some farmers beaten not by eligibility, but by the clock and the computer. SFI26 Window 2 opened at…

AGRICULTURAL TRANSITION

Allerton Project left in limbo after SFI chaos

A leading farm research project has been left without a clear replacement for its environmental funding after a technical problem prevented it applying for the latest Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)…

ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

£233m of SFI26 money all spent within matter of hours

Fears that the funds available for Window 2 of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) would disappear quickly have come to fruition with all the money now gone, leaving many thousands…

PAYMENTS, SCHEMES AND GRANTS

RPA repayment demand sparks Exmoor farmer’s fury

Exmoor farmer Holly Purdey has criticised the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) after being told to repay an overpayment linked to capital works completed and paid for in 2018, but not…

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