Before you apply, an SFI26 Window 2 checklist

When the window opens, and when it closes

Defra expect Window 2 to open from 22 September 2026, for all farmers and land managers rather than the two groups Window 1 was limited to. The date comes from Defra's farming blog; the scheme rules themselves say only that Window 2 will open in September 2026, so treat it as expected rather than promised.

There is no closing date. The rules say a fixed closure date cannot be set because it depends on demand, and that the RPA will publish an update once 25 per cent, 50 per cent and 75 per cent of the funding has been allocated. Defra put a further 50 million pounds into Window 2 in August, taking the scheme to 290 million pounds for this financial year, so it is not going to shut in a fortnight. But it does mean the work below is worth doing before the service opens rather than after it.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 2, checked 05/09/2026; Defra Farming blog, 29/08/2026, for the expected opening date and the budget.

Start with what you already hold

Everything else on this page depends on this, so do it first. Find your current agreement documents, whatever scheme they are under, and write down three things for each: which offer it belongs to (SFI 2023, SFI 2024, Mid Tier, Higher Tier, HLS), its end date, and the actions in it with their areas.

That gives you the two facts that decide your options: your end date settles whether you can apply early, and the areas in your limited area actions settle how much of your 25 per cent allowance is already spent.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, section 4.5.1, checked 05/09/2026.

Work out the 25 per cent allowance

The limited area actions share one allowance between them: 25 per cent of your farm's agricultural area, which means the land registered as arable, permanent grassland or permanent crops on the parcels linked to your SBI. Not 25 per cent each, and not 25 per cent per application.

What counts against it: limited area actions in any SFI agreement you hold, plus the equivalent Higher Tier options from 2025 onwards, including applications you have submitted but not heard back on. Anything you still hold on the day you apply counts, even if it has months left to run. An agreement that has already ended does not.

The full account is on our 25 per cent limit page, our limited area calculator does the sum in a page you can use on a phone, and GOV.UK publishes its own calculator for it.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, sections 4.5.1 and 4.5.2, and the SFI26 limited area actions calculator, checked 05/09/2026.

Check whether you can apply early

Window 2 lets some farms apply before their existing agreement ends. The qualifying list is narrow: SFI 2023 agreements ending between 30 September 2026 and 28 February 2027; Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier ending 31 December 2026; pre-2025 Higher Tier ending 31 December 2026; HLS ending by 28 February 2027. Agreements ending on 1 March 2027 or later do not qualify, and SFI 2024 agreements are not on the list.

The cutoff is not arbitrary. An SFI26 agreement has to start by 1 April 2027 to use this financial year's budget, and 28 February is the latest end date that leaves time for that.

If you qualify, two things are worth knowing before you plan around it. The RPA aims to offer your new agreement before the old one ends, though the rules say that cannot be guaranteed, and if you accept in time the new agreement usually starts on the first day of the month after the old one finishes. And if you hold more than one qualifying agreement, the new one waits for the last of them to end.

Holding a live agreement does not stop you applying through the ordinary route. If yours runs past the cutoff, you apply in September like everyone else, for actions compatible with what you already hold on that land.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, sections 3.8.1 to 3.8.3, checked 05/09/2026.

Know the limits and the gates

You need at least 3 hectares of eligible agricultural land linked to your SBI, and you need to be registered with the Rural Payments Agency with that SBI at the point you apply.

Then two limits on the agreement itself. One SFI26 agreement per business, identified by SBI, across both windows. And a maximum agreement value of 100,000 pounds per agreement year. Both are worth knowing before you build a plan that breaches either.

One more gate that catches people late. If any of the land you are applying for is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest, Natural England has to consent before the RPA can make you an agreement offer. That is not a thing to start on the day you apply.

Source: GOV.UK, SFI26 scheme rules and guidance, sections 2.1 and 2.2, checked 05/09/2026; Defra Farming blog, 05/08/2026, for the SSSI consent point.

Do the money before you choose the actions

The first is what each action pays against the gross margin of what it displaces, field by field. Payment rates are the same everywhere; your margins are not, so the same action can be obvious on one farm and a poor trade on the next. Every guide on this site works that through against Farm Business Survey margins, which is a starting point until you put your own numbers in.

The second is the succession sum, for anyone holding an agreement that ends within the next couple of years. Some of what you hold has no equivalent in the current offer, so it cannot be renewed, and the management payment has gone for SFI26 agreements. Adding up what disappears at your end date tells you how much you need to replace, and that number is usually bigger than people expect. Our removed actions page lists what left the offer and where each one's job went.

Before the window opens

Get your parcels and boundaries current, because the application works from what is registered against your SBI. Have your agreement documents to hand rather than half-remembered. Do the 25 per cent sum. Do the margin sums on the actions you are considering. Start the SSSI consent if you need one. Then, when the service opens, the application is data entry rather than decision-making.

Because there is no fixed closing date and the budget is announced as it goes, an application that is ready in the first weeks is on safer ground than one still being thought about in the new year. That is a reason to do the work now, not a reason to send something you have not checked.

This page summarises Crown copyright material published on GOV.UK under the Open Government Licence v3.0. It is not scheme guidance, and Tilth is not connected to Defra or the RPA. Check the scheme rules and your own agreement before acting.