At the Oxford Farming Conference Defra Secretary Emma Reynolds outlined how the government plans to reform SFI, with the first application window due to open in June.
Defra has yet to publish the full details on what the reformed SFI will look like, but has said it is looking at several options, including:
- A 'simpler and more focused' scheme.
- A limit on how much land can be put into certain actions.
- Review of payment rates.
- An agreement value cap.
- Fewer actions.
- An initial application window in June for 'small farms' and those not already in an ELM agreement, followed by a wider, second application window in September.
During the Oxford Farming Conference, the Defra Secretary said the standard definition of a small farm is 50 hectares, but that Defra would clarify what it means by this before the first application window opens.
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