CS Annual Claims & FETF Reminder

Countryside Stewardship Annual Claims Now Available 

If you have a Countryside Stewardship agreement, the annual claim window has now opened, and will close at 11.59pm on 15th May 2026.   

If we complete your annual claim for you, rest assured we will starting working through our checks on your annual claim and we will be in touch to confirm everything before submitting.  

Its important to ensure that the land use recorded with Rural Payments is up to date before submitting the claim form, so in some cases we may be in touch shortly with blank maps for you to fill out your cropping details for this year before we submit the claim. 

FETF

Just a reminder that the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2026 is now open for applications, and will close at midday on 28 April 2026.  This is the last time this scheme will be available in its current format, so its well worth looking at it closely.   

You can find full details in our last post whcih you can find here , but in summary, grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 per funding theme are available on a a competitive basis.  The themes are: 

1. Productivity (up to £25,000) 

2. Slurry Management (up to £25,000)

3. Animal Health & Welfare (up to £25,000)

   
   

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries.  

SFI 2026 Update

We finally have some useful information on SFI 2026 applications.   As expected, there are a range of changes, and there will be two application windows as previously announced.   

The first application round will open in June 2026 and remain open for around 2 months (although it will close sooner if demand is high).  This round will be open to farms under 50ha, AND farms of any size that do not currently have an environmental land management revenue agreement.

The second application round will open in September 2026 and will be open to all farms that are not eligible for round 1.   There will be no fixed closing date, the window will close when the pot is spent. 

The key changes for the 2026 scheme include (but not limited to): 

• Maximum agreement value of £100,000 per year 

• Each farm business can only have one 2026 SFI agreement 

• Farmers will no longer be able to increase rotational options at renewal above the year 1 level 

• AHW7 Enhanced Overwinter Stubble will be limited to 25% of the total agricultural area 

• Moorland grazing & shepherding rates have increased

• CSAM3 Herbal Ley rate will decrease from £382/ha to £224/ha for 2026 agreements 

• CAHL2 Winter bird food rate will decrease from £853/ha to £648/ha for 2026 agreements

• CNUM3 Legume Fallow rate will decrease from £593/ha to £532/ha for 2026 agreements 

• CIPM1 Assess Integrated Pest Management & Produce a plan has been removed as an option

• CSAM1 Assess soil and produce soil management plan has been removed as an option 

• CNUM1 Nutrient Management Review has been removed as an option 

• CHRW1 Assess and record hedgerow condition has been removed as an option

• CHRW3 Maintain or establish hedgerow trees has been removed as an option 

• Options for buffering ponds and trees have been removed 

• AHW1 Bumblebird mix has been removed 

• AHW12 Management of woodland edges on arable land has been removed 

There are some other small changes but the above list covers the majority. 

This updated guidance is very welcome and allows us to start planning applications with you ahead of the window opening.   We will be in touch with you individually in the coming weeks to start planning your 2026 applications, but please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries in the meantime. 

FETF 2026 Guidance Released

The Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2026 will open for applications on 17th March 2026, with applications closing at midday on 28 April 2026. This fund provides grant support for farmers investing in equipment to improve productivity, slurry management and animal health and welfare and is broadly similar to the previous rounds of the FETF scheme, with some small changes.   

This is the last time this scheme will be available in its current format, with a restructure of schemes due for 2027.   

Farmers will be able to apply for grants of between £1,000 and £25,000 per funding theme detailed below. This represents a competitive opportunity to secure up to 50% of the RPA-determined cost of an item.

1. Productivity (up to £25,000) 

2. Slurry Management (up to £25,000)

3. Animal Health & Welfare (up to £25,000)

   
   

The key changes published for this year are: 

• Scoring uplifts have been removed 

• Fixed Sheep Handling Systems have been removed as an option 

• Handheld digital Brix refractometers for colostrum testing have been added as an option 

• Water heaters have been added as an option 

• Autonomous grain monitoring robots have been added as an option

• Scoring has changed on some items

Where can I find out more on FETF?

As this scheme is competitive, it is important to ensure your application scores highly to improve your chances of success.   Our team are always happy to answer your questions. Get in touch today, in order to begin work on your application!