There are some actions in the SFI 2024 which are ‘rotational’.
As explained in the SFI scheme information, in the second or third year of an SFI agreement, you can:
- increase* the area entered into a rotational SFI action
- decrease the area entered into a rotational SFI action
- leave the rotational actions unchanged (no change to area or location)
*Some customers of the SFI re-opened offer will not be able to increase their area. If this applies to you, we will have contacted you already to confirm this.
Rotational actions declaration
If your SFI agreement includes rotational actions, you will have told us in your application about their location and area for the first year of your agreement.
You need to complete a rotational actions declaration to tell us about the location and area of your rotational actions for the second and third years of your SFI agreement. You need to do this even if you’re not making any changes to the location or area of these actions.
Locating your rotational actions
You can move the location of a rotational action to an eligible land parcel that’s linked to your Single Business Identifier (SBI). This can be land that’s not already in your SFI agreement.
In the second and third years of your agreement, you’ll be able to do the action on:
- a smaller area, as long as it’s at least 50% of the area you entered into the action for the first year of your agreement – for example, if you enter 10 hectares (ha) into a rotational action for the first year, you can decrease that area to 5ha for the second year and then either keep it as 5ha for the third year or increase it again
- new land parcels which are not already included in your SFI agreement, provided they are eligible for that action
- the same area as the first year of the agreement, but you must still declare this by submitting the rotational actions declaration
If you have actions on Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) land, you must get consent from Natural England for any changes you make to your actions on this land. You need consent in place before you do the affected actions on this land, unless the SFI action is exempt. If you do not have consent from Natural England on affected actions, your Year 2 or Year 3 payments may be delayed or reduced. You can read how to get SSSI consent in section 10.3 of the SFI expanded offer for 2024: agreement holder’s information - GOV.UK
Rotational actions in SFI 2024 agreements
You’ll need to complete a rotational actions declaration if your SFI 2024 agreement includes any of the following SFI actions:
Actions for farmland wildlife on arable and horticultural land
AHW1 - Bumblebird mix
AHW10 - Low input harvested cereal crop
AHW11 - Cultivated areas for arable plants
AHW4 - Skylark plots
AHW5 - Nesting plots for lapwing
AHW6 - Basic overwinter stubble
AHW7- Enhanced overwinter stubble
AHW8 - Wholecrop spring cereals and over winter stubble
AHW9 - Unharvested cereal headland
CAHL1 - Pollen and nectar flower mix
CAHL2 - Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land
Actions for integrated pest management
CIPM2 - Flower rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips
CIPM3 - Companion crop on arable and horticultural land
CIPM4 - No use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops.
Actions for nutrient management
CNUM2 - Legumes on improved grassland
CNUM3 - Legume fallow
Actions for soil health
CSAM2 - Multi-species winter cover crop
CSAM3 - Herbal Lays
SOH2 - Muti-species spring-sown cover crop
SOH3 - Muti-species summer-sown cover crop
SPH4 - Winter cover following maize crops
Actions for farmland wildlife on habitats and grassland
GRH11 - Cattle grazing supplement (non-moorland)
GRH7 - Haymaking supplement
GRH8 - Haymaking supplement (late cut)
CIGL2 - Winter bird food on improved grassland
Actions for organic farming
OFA1 - Overwinter stubble (organic land)
OFA6 - Undersown cereal crop (organic land)
OFC3 - Organic conversation - rotational land
OFC4 - Organic conversation - horticultural land
OFM4 - Organic land management - rotational land
OFM5 - Organic land management - horticultural land
Actions for precision farming
PRF1 - Variable rate application of nutrient
PRF2 - Camera or remote sensor guided herbicide spraying
PRF3 - Non-mechanical robotic weeding
PRF4 - Mechanical robotic weeding
When to complete your rotational actions declaration
You need to complete your rotational actions declaration towards the end of the first and second years of your SFI agreement.
Your rotational actions declaration will be available in the Rural Payments service once you’ve submitted your annual declaration. You can find out more information in our blog - Sustainable Farming Incentive Expanded Offer for 2024 (SFI 2024): understanding the annual declaration – Rural payments. We will remind you to submit your rotational actions declaration when it is due.
It’s important that you complete and submit your rotational actions declaration as soon as it’s available. We can’t pay you for the relevant agreement year until you submit it.
How to complete your rotational actions declaration
After you’ve submitted your annual declaration, you need to sign in to the Rural Payments service and complete your rotational actions declaration as soon as possible.
- Go to the ‘Business Overview page’ and click ‘Apply for Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) Offer’.
- Select the green ‘Rotational Actions Declaration’ button.
If you want to make changes to any of your rotational actions, complete:
- Section 1 ‘Confirm you wish to make a rotational actions declaration’
- Section 2 ‘Add new land if desired. Confirm the area and location of rotational actions’
- Section 3 ‘Review and submit your Rotational Actions Declaration’
If you do not want to change the area or location of your rotational SFI actions, complete:
- Section 1 ‘Confirm if you want to make a Rotational Actions Declaration’, and select ‘No, I do not wish to make changes to my rotational actions’
- Section 3 ‘Review and submit your Rotational Actions Declaration’
Helpful tips
- Make sure land use and land cover is up to date in the Rural Payments service before starting your declaration.
- Make sure land mapping (for example, boundaries) is up to date in the Rural Payments service before starting your declaration.
If you submit your declaration and realise you made a mistake, you must contact us within 10 working days with the amendments you want us to make.
Check your details are up to date
To make sure we can deal with any queries quickly, it’s important that your personal and business details are up to date in the Rural Payments service. Sign in to the Rural Payments service to check and update them if necessary.
Where to find more information
Read more about your SFI agreement terms and conditions. It provides information about what to do if your circumstances change or if you cannot deliver your agreement.
If you have any questions, you can contact us in one for the following ways:
- complete a query form in the Rural Payments service, which is the quickest way to contact us. To do this, sign in to your Rural Payments account and go to ‘Create or view a query’
- email us at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk (add ‘EO SFI’ to the subject title of your email)
- call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm)
Please add your Single Business Identifier (SBI) and agreement number on your email.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Farming Incentive and the environmental improvements it brings.
3 comments
Comment by Tony Mawston posted on
Can an existing SAM agreement be increased slightly even if there are no rotational actions?
Comment by RPA Editor posted on
Hi Tony, thanks for your comment. SAM3 is a SFI 23 action so not relevant for the SFI 24 Expanded Offer rotational declaration. For further information or help with this, you can do one of the following:
Email: ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk
Call: 03000 200 301
Create an online query in the Rural Payments Service - Sign in to Rural Payments
Please quote your single business identifier (SBI) and agreement number.
Comment by aamawston posted on
SAM 3