SFI 2026 Payment Rates: Window 2 Opening Date and What Each Action Pays

Where the scheme stands right now

Window 1 closed at 11:59pm on 28 August 2026. It was never open to everybody: it was aimed at smaller farms and at businesses not already drawing revenue funding through an environmental land management agreement, and it ran against a £60 million budget that could have closed it early. By 31 July the Rural Payments Agency had offered 1,188 agreements and 922 had been accepted, most of them inside two days.

Window 2 opens in September 2026 and is open to all farmers and land managers. Defra will not confirm the exact date until Window 1 has been processed, which is the honest reason nobody can give you the day yet. The budget is £180 million, and anything Window 1 did not allocate rolls into it.

That sits inside a scheme budget that was £240 million until the middle of August, when the drought support package added £50 million and took it to £290 million. The uplift matters more than the headline, because it is the part that decides how many applications get through rather than how good the press release looked.

To apply in Window 2 you need to be registered with the RPA, hold a Single Business Identifier, and have at least three hectares of eligible agricultural land linked to it.

The rules that change what the rates are worth

Four things matter before you read a single figure.

Most actions run for three years, though some organic conversion actions differ. Three years is not long in rotational terms. It is worth checking an action still suits the third year of your plan and not just the first, because the ground you commit is out of your hands for two harvests after the one you are thinking about.

There is one agreement per business, capped at £100,000 per agreement year. For most holdings that cap is theoretical. For larger units stacking the better-paying habitat options across a lot of hectares it is not, and it is the number that decides whether those options are worth the ground.

You cannot be paid twice for the same thing. Check compatibility between actions, and between SFI and anything you already hold, before you build the application rather than after. This is where most of the wasted effort happens.

The offer is 71 actions. Seventy of them carry over from the SFI24 offer, with GRH12 replacing one that went. If you have looked at SFI before, you are not starting again, and an old shortlist is still mostly valid.

SFI 2026 payment rates for arable and soil actions

These are the actions most combinable farms will look at first.

• SOH1, no-till farming: £73 per hectare
• SOH3, multi-species summer-sown cover crop: £163 per hectare
• CSAM2, multi-species winter cover crop: £129 per hectare
• CSAM3, herbal leys: £224 per hectare
• CNUM2, legumes on improved grassland: £102 per hectare
• CNUM3, legume fallow: £532 per hectare
• CIPM3, companion crop on arable and horticultural land: £55 per hectare
• CIPM4, no use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops: £45 per hectare

The spread tells you something. Cover crops and no-till pay modestly because they are things a lot of farms were heading towards anyway, and the payment is topping up a decision rather than buying it. Legume fallow at £532 pays properly because it takes the field out of production, so the rate has to compete with what the crop would have made. Judge that one against your own gross margin, not against the other SFI rates.

Precision farming rates

• PRF1, variable rate application of nutrients: £27 per hectare
• PRF2, camera or remote sensor guided herbicide spraying: £43 per hectare
• PRF4, mechanical robotic weeding: £150 per hectare

These three reward kit and technique rather than taking land out of production, which makes them some of the easiest money in the scheme if you already run the equipment. Mechanical robotic weeding at £150 is the outlier, and it is priced for a machine most farms do not yet own.

Farmland wildlife rates on arable land

This is where the high per-hectare numbers live, because these actions generally mean giving up cropping on that ground.

• CAHL1, pollen and nectar flower mix: £739 per hectare
• CAHL2, winter bird food on arable and horticultural land: £648 per hectare
• CAHL3, grassy field corners or blocks: £590 per hectare
• CAHL4, 4m to 12m grass buffer strip on arable and horticultural land: £515 per hectare
• CIPM2, flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips: £798 per hectare
• AHW3, beetle banks: £764 per hectare
• AHW4, skylark plots: £11 per plot per year (minimum 2 plots per hectare)
• AHW5, nesting plots for lapwing: £765 per hectare
• AHW6, basic overwinter stubble: £58 per hectare
• AHW7, enhanced overwinter stubble: £589 per hectare
• AHW8, whole crop spring cereals and overwinter stubble: £596 per hectare
• AHW9, unharvested cereal headland: £1,072 per hectare
• AHW10, low input harvested cereal crop: £354 per hectare
• AHW11, cultivated areas for arable plants: £660 per hectare
• AHW2, supplementary winter bird food: £732 per tonne per year

The unharvested cereal headland at £1,072 is the highest area rate in the non-organic offer, and it should be: you grow the crop and then leave it standing. Skylark plots are the quiet bargain at £11 per plot, because the plots are small, you need a minimum of two per hectare, and the rest of the field carries on as normal.

Read the overwinter stubble rates together. Basic stubble pays £58 and enhanced pays £589, and the gap is the whole argument: one is leaving stubble alone, the other is a managed habitat with real restrictions.

Grassland and livestock rates

• CIGL1, take grassland field corners or blocks out of management: £333 per hectare
• CIGL2, winter bird food on improved grassland: £515 per hectare
• CIGL3, 4m to 12m grass buffer strip on improved grassland: £235 per hectare
• CLIG3, manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs: £151 per hectare
• GRH7, haymaking supplement: £157 per hectare
• GRH8, haymaking supplement (late cut): £187 per hectare
• GRH10, lenient grazing supplement: £28 per hectare
• GRH12, manage rough grassland for upland breeding waders: £203 per hectare
• WBD4, arable reversion to grassland with low fertiliser input: £489 per hectare
• WBD6, remove livestock from intensive grassland during the autumn and winter (outside: £115 per hectare
• WBD7, remove livestock from grassland during the autumn and winter: £115 per hectare
• SPM3, keep native breeds on grazed habitats supplement (more than 80%): £146 per hectare
• SPM5, keep native breeds on extensively managed habitats supplement (more than 80%): £11 per hectare

Grassland rates run lower than arable habitat rates because the opportunity cost is lower, and the supplements are the interesting part. Haymaking at £157, or £187 for a late cut, is paid on top of the underlying action rather than instead of it, and a late cut is worth the extra £30 only if your ground and your forage plan can take the delay.

Moorland and upland rates

• UPL1, moderate livestock grazing on moorland: £35 per hectare
• UPL2, low livestock grazing on moorland: £89 per hectare
• UPL3, limited livestock grazing on moorland: £111 per hectare
• UPL5, keep cattle and ponies on moorland supplement (minimum 70%: £18 per hectare
• UPL6, keep cattle and ponies on moorland supplement (100%: £23 per hectare
• UPL8, shepherding livestock on moorland (remove stock for at least 4 months): £74 per hectare
• UPL10, shepherding livestock on moorland (remove stock for at least 8 months): £102 per hectare

The moorland grazing actions are a ladder: moderate density at £35, low at £89, limited at £111. The less you graze, the more you are paid, which is the scheme being honest about what it is buying. The cattle and ponies supplements at £18 and £23 are small, but they stack onto the grazing action rather than replacing it, and shepherding at £74 or £102 depends on how long stock come off.

Hedgerows, boundaries and historic features

• CHRW2, manage hedgerows: £13 per 100 metres for one side of an eligible hedgerow per year
• BND1, maintain dry stone walls: £27 per 100 metres for both sides
• BND2, maintain earth banks or stone-faced hedgebanks: £11 per 100 metres for one side
• HEF1, maintain weatherproof traditional farm or forestry buildings: £5 per square metre per year
• HEF6, manage historic and archaeological features on grassland: £55 per hectare

These need reading twice, because they are the only rates in the scheme not paid per hectare. Hedgerow management is paid per 100 metres for one side, so a hedge between two of your own fields can be entered twice. Dry stone walls at £27 are paid for both sides at once. Traditional buildings are paid per square metre of ground floor, which is a different sum entirely and worth working out before you assume it is not worth the paperwork.

Water, ponds and buffer strips

• BFS1, 12m to 24m watercourse buffer strip on cultivated land: £707 per hectare
• BFS6, 6m to 12m habitat strip next to watercourses: £742 per hectare
• WBD1, manage ponds: £257
• WBD2, manage ditches: £4 per 100 metres for both sides
• WBD3, in-field grass strips: £765 per hectare

Buffer strips next to watercourses are among the best-paying actions in the scheme, and they sit on ground that is often awkward to crop anyway. Ponds are paid per pond, capped at three per hectare, so a farm with several small ponds in one corner cannot claim all of them.

Scrub, mosaics and agroforestry

• SCR1, create scrub and open habitat mosaics: £588 per hectare
• SCR2, manage scrub and open habitat mosaics: £350 per hectare
• AGF1, maintain very low density in-field agroforestry on less sensitive land: £248 per hectare

Creating scrub and open habitat mosaics pays £588 against £350 for managing what is already there, which is the pattern across the whole offer: establishment pays more than maintenance.

Organic conversion and management rates

• OFC1, organic conversion – improved permanent grassland: £187 per hectare
• OFC2, organic conversion – unimproved permanent grassland: £96 per hectare
• OFC3, organic conversion – rotational land: £298 per hectare
• OFC4, organic conversion – horticultural land: £874 per hectare
• OFC5, organic conversion – top fruit: £1,920 per hectare
• OFM1, organic land management – improved permanent grassland: £20 per hectare
• OFM2, organic land management – unimproved permanent grassland: £41 per hectare
• OFM3, organic land management – enclosed rough grazing: £97 per hectare
• OFM4, organic land management – rotational land: £132 per hectare
• OFM5, organic land management – horticultural land: £707 per hectare
• OFM6, organic land management – top fruit: £1,920 per hectare

Top fruit carries the highest rate in the scheme at £1,920, for both conversion and ongoing management. It also carries the longest commitment and the biggest change to how the holding runs, so the rate is doing a lot of work to offset genuine risk.

Note how far apart conversion and management sit on grassland. Converting improved permanent grassland pays £187 while managing it organically afterwards pays £20. The conversion payment is compensation for the transition, not an income you can plan around once you are through it.

What stacking actually looks like on a 200 hectare arable farm

Rates on their own do not tell you much. Here is roughly how they add up on a 200 hectare combinable unit taking a sensible spread rather than chasing the highest numbers.

• Multi-species winter cover crop on 60 ha at £129: £7,740
• No-till farming on 100 ha at £73: £7,300
• Companion crop on 30 ha at £55: £1,650
• Pollen and nectar flower mix on 4 ha at £739: £2,956
• Winter bird food on 4 ha at £648: £2,592
• Hedgerow management, 6,000 m of one side at £13 per 100 m: £780

That comes to £23,018 a year, from eight hectares of cropping given up and a set of practices most of the farm was heading towards anyway. It is also nowhere near the £100,000 cap, which is the point: for the large majority of holdings the cap is not the constraint. The constraint is how much ground you are willing to take out of production, and whether the habitat rates beat your margin on that particular field.

Work it that way round. Start from the fields that are awkward, wet, shaded or small, price the actions against what those fields actually yield, and you will get a better answer than starting from the rate table.

What to do before Window 2 opens

Every action and its rate is also in Defra’s Find funding for land or farms tool if you want to filter by what suits your ground. Defra’s own readiness list is short and worth clearing now rather than in the week the window opens.

• Check your digital maps show at least three hectares of eligible agricultural land, with the parcel detail correct.
• Check your contact details in the Rural Payments service are current.
• Make sure whoever is submitting has the right permission level on the business.
• If any of your land is an SSSI, get the consent notice to Natural England early. The RPA cannot offer an agreement until that is in.

That last one is the step that quietly costs people the window. Natural England consent is not instant, and an application that is otherwise perfect will sit there waiting for it.

If you are not in England

SFI is an England scheme. Wales runs the Sustainable Farming Scheme, Northern Ireland has its own set of DAERA schemes, and Scotland is on a different track again. The funding sector is different enough in each that the rates above will not translate, and it is worth reading your own administration’s scheme rather than assuming the English numbers are a guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does SFI 2026 Window 2 open?

Window 2 opens in September 2026 and is open to all farmers and land managers. Defra will confirm the exact date once Window 1 has been processed. Window 1 closed at 11:59pm on 28 August 2026.

What is the SFI 2026 budget for Window 2?

£180 million, plus any of the Window 1 budget that was not allocated. The wider SFI26 budget rose from £240 million to £290 million in August 2026 when the drought support package added £50 million.

How much can one farm business get from SFI 2026?

A maximum agreement value of £100,000 per agreement year, and each farm business can hold only one SFI26 agreement.

How long does an SFI 2026 agreement last?

Most SFI26 actions run for three years. Some organic conversion actions have a different duration.

Which SFI 2026 action pays the most per hectare?

Organic conversion and management of top fruit, actions OFC5 and OFM6, pay £1,920 per hectare. In the non-organic offer the unharvested cereal headland, action AHW9, pays £1,072 per hectare.

How many actions are in SFI 2026?

There are 71 actions. Seventy carry over from the SFI24 offer and GRH12, managing rough grassland for upland breeding waders, replaces one that was withdrawn.

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Source: Defra and the RPA: SFI26 actions and payment rates