The SFI 25 per cent limit, explained

What the limit is

Some SFI actions can only be done on up to 25 per cent of your farm. GOV.UK calls these the limited area actions, and gives two reasons for the cap: they take land out of agricultural production, and you are unlikely to deliver the action's aim if you do it on a larger area. The rule arrived in March 2024, after Defra found that a small number of applicants, roughly 1 per cent of those who applied for SFI in 2023, had entered 80 per cent or more of their farm into actions that take land out of food production, and it carries into the SFI 2026 offer.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 4.5, checked 23/08/2026; Defra Farming blog, 25/03/2024.

Which actions are limited

The SFI limited area actions, as the scheme rules list them:

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, table 2 in section 4.5.2, checked 23/08/2026.

Two changes came with SFI26: AHW1, the bumblebird mix, left the offer itself, so it appears here only because area held in SFI 2024 agreements still counts, and AHW7, enhanced overwinter stubble, joined the list. Six Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier actions count against the same limit for CSHT agreements from 2025 onwards: CAB10 (unharvested cereal headland), CAB11 (cultivated areas for arable plants), CAB16 (bumblebird mix), CAB17 (winter bird food on arable and horticulture land), CAB18 (flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or in-field strips on arable land or permanent crops) and CAB19 (pollen and nectar flower mix). They are not a matching set: six against eleven, and not every SFI action here has a counterpart.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, sections 4.5.1 and 4.5.2, checked 23/08/2026.

How the 25 per cent is worked out

The rule in the scheme rules' own words: the total eligible area you enter into any combination of one or more of the limited area actions must not be more than 25 per cent of the total agricultural area of your farm.

The two definitions doing the work there:

Your farm means all the land parcels linked to your SBI, the Single Business Identifier your farm business has with the Rural Payments Agency, at the point you apply, as shown on your digital maps. Your agricultural area means the area in each parcel registered with an arable, permanent grassland or permanent crops land cover. Land registered under other covers does not enlarge the base the 25 per cent is taken from.

The limit runs across schemes, not per application. When you apply for limited area actions in SFI26, the calculation counts any limited area actions you already hold in SFI 2023 agreements, SFI 2024 agreements, and CSHT agreements from 2025 onwards.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 4.5.1, checked 23/08/2026.

The calculator puts the consequence of going over plainly: if your eligible area remaining "is zero or a negative figure, this means you cannot put any more of these actions into your applications or agreements".

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 limited area actions calculator, step 3, checked 23/08/2026.

A worked example

The SFI 2023 wrinkle

The limit was not applied retrospectively to SFI 2023 agreements applied for on or before 26/03/2024. Those agreements stand as they are. The scheme rules then add two things about them. The first is that "any area you entered into limited area actions in that SFI23 agreement will count towards the 25% limit in your SFI26 application". The second is that you will not be able to apply for more limited area actions in your SFI26 application if you exceeded the 25 per cent limit in that SFI23 agreement.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 4.5.1, checked 23/08/2026.

Timing, and agreements that are about to end

SFI26 is applied for in two windows. Window 1 opened in June 2026 for two eligible groups; the scheme rules say Window 2 "will open in September 2026 for all farmers and land managers". The early route for agreements that are about to end, section 3.8 of the rules, is for Window 2 only.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, sections 2 and 3.8, checked 23/08/2026.

The limit counts what you hold at the point you apply. The scheme rules say it "will take into account any limited area actions you already have in" SFI 2023 agreements, SFI 2024 agreements and CSHT agreements from 2025 onwards. The calculator GOV.UK links from that section asks you to enter the areas held in your "live SFI 24 agreements", your "live SFI 23 agreements", your "live agreements for the current CSHT offer" and your "submitted applications for the current CSHT offer". A Higher Tier application you have sent but not yet had agreed is asked for alongside the agreed ones.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 4.5.1, and the SFI26 limited area actions calculator, step 2, both checked 23/08/2026.

What it means for planning

To work your own figures out, our SFI limited area calculator does the same sum as GOV.UK's PDF in a page you can use on a phone, and where an agreement of yours ends before the new one would start it shows the answer both ways. Nothing you type into it leaves your browser.

Each limited action's guide: CIPM2, CAHL1, CAHL2, CAHL3, CIGL1, CIGL2, WBD3, AHW7, AHW9, AHW11, and for SFI 2024 holders, AHW1.