Farmers are being warned it is unlikely they will be able to transfer a Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement to another person in the event of a farm changing hands. Vivienne Williams, partner at law firm Michelmores, said looking at the latest guidance on the SFI there had been a change of approach from Defra, compared to other agri-environment scheme agreements, over what will happen when a farm, or part of a farm, changes hands. This might be due to a farm sale, inheritance, grant of a new tenancy, a surrender of a tenancy or a farm reorganisation. Defra's guidance states that SFI agreements will run for three years and that changes which involve increasing standards or adding land can be requested at the end of the first or second years of the agreement. These must be approved by Defra. However, removing land from an agreement or reducing standards early is more complicated.
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