The Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be launched in mid-2022. Initially it will be open to farmers who currently receive payments under the BPS. Over time, we intend to open up the scheme, so that it is both accessible and applicable to a broader range of farmers. The scheme will give farmers an opportunity to secure a complementary income stream to their farm business by undertaking sustainable farming actions that benefit the wider environment. The scheme will expand over time. It will start with a core set of sustainable farming actions, which will build incrementally as we apply our learning and more funding becomes available. It will also evolve to deliver continued progress against our climate and environmental priorities and reflect any changes to the regulatory baseline. We will release further information to farmers in summer 2021, ahead of the scheme launch in 2022. Learning from roll-out of the new scheme In rolling out the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, we plan to learn on the job – working with farmers to evolve and improve the scheme. Learning from the early roll-out of the full scheme will allow us to find out what works and what does not with a large part of the whole farming community. This learning and improvement approach will continue beyond the pilot and early roll-out, to become a feature of all our future schemes. Role of tests, trials and piloting In addition, we will continue more focused learning activities. Since 2018, we have been engaged in tests and trials to explore ideas and approaches with farmers. These have given us valuable insights, which have helped shape our approach to scheme design and implementation. From October 2021, we will pilot some of what will be included in the full Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme offer. The main difference between ‘tests and trials’ and ‘piloting’ is that tests and trials focus on potential individual parts of the future scheme, whereas piloting will test a pilot version of the scheme from start to finish. By analogy, a manufacturer designing a new car might test things like the brakes and gear box separately (tests and trials), before combining them into a driveable car for road testing (piloting). The image below shows how the Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme will be rolled out between 2021 and 2028. Concept testing will run from 2021 to mid-2022, when the SFI scheme launches. Launch and early expansion will run from mid-2022 to late 2024. From late 2024 to 2028 and onwards the scheme will be fully expanded. Throughout concept testing, launch and early expansion there will be tests, trials and piloting to test specific aspects of SFI. Learning from the roll-out and implementation will begin from launch. This diagram focusses on roll-out of the Sustainable Farming Incentive. It does not show timelines for piloting and rolling out the Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery schemes (see section on piloting of the future schemes below for more information). Tests, trials and piloting give us a space in which to try out new ideas, to see if they are suitable for the full scheme. They also allow us to undertake deeper and more focused testing, to make sure all features work as intended without any unintended consequences. For example, they will allow us to test:
the suitability of potential land management actions and simplified processes with smaller groups of farmers – to make sure they are suitable for a range of different farm types, farming methods and landscape features
new approaches to advice and guidance – checking that scheme monitoring and compliance supports participants to provide sustainable environmental benefits that can be implemented in combination with sustainable food production and other commercial operations
how to use land management plans to maximise benefits for farmers
Roll-out of Sustainable Farming Incentive – learning and improvement
StageConcept testing (2021 to 2024)Launch and early expansion (from 2022)Full expansion of scheme (from 2024) ParticipationStarting with several hundred farmersOpen to all farmers eligible for BPS payments (c.88,000)Open to all farmers Learning approachPiloting starts in October 2021 to test all the key features of the scheme We will learn, adjust, improve As we operate the scheme at scale from mid-2022, we will continue learning and making adjustments We will focus on ease of access and simplification We will continue working with farmers to pilot specific aspects of the scheme Piloting will end in late 2024, but we will continue to learn from full operation of scheme and make adjustments were necessary Tests and trialsContinuing to use tests and trials to run short-term experiments to explore new ideas and conceptsWe may use test and trials to run shorter experiments to explore new ideas and conceptsWe may use test and trials to run shorter experiments to explore new ideas and concepts The main groups involved in piloting will be:
farmers and land managers, who will be at the heart of learning. There will be a strong emphasis on keeping it simple and getting the basics right. We want a scheme that makes sense and is attractive, giving farmers and land managers space to produce public goods in ways that works for them and the environment.
pilot scheme administrators from the Rural Payments Agency, who will refine and simplify systems and processes
advisers – for example, if they are hired by participants to help plan and implement Sustainable Farming Incentive activities
stakeholders – for example, groups representing the farming and environment sectors