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Written question asked by Callum Anderson (Labour) on Wednesday, 24 June 2026, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 June 2026. It was answered by Stephen Morgan (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Agriculture: Buckinghamshire

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure that agri-environment funding remains accessible to small and medium-sized farms in Buckinghamshire.

Answer

To date smaller farms have been less likely to be in agri-environment schemes such as SFI. A quarter of SFI money goes to just 4% of farms, which isn't fair.

SFI26 will have two application windows to ensure as many farmers as possible can benefit from a SFI agreement. Window 1 will open from June 2026 for small farms with between 3 and 50 hectares and also farms without an existing Environmental Land Management agreement.

The Government is specifically targeting these two groups (before opening to applications from all farmers) because it wants to bring more of them into SFI.

Window 2 will open from September 2026 for all farms.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
13065
Session
2026-27
Subjects
Agriculture Finance Environment protection Buckinghamshire
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk