OAKBANK NEWS AND BLOG

Tens of thousands of agreements are about to end, the new SFI26 round has been a scramble for a fixed pot and Higher Tier is coming back gradually. Here is the picture as it stands in October 2026. England is heading towards the biggest churn of agri-environment agreements for some time. SFI26 Window 2 opened and closed in under 6 hours on 22 September 2026 - bringing an enormous amount of stress that our industry just didn’t need right now. 12,204 applications were submitted

Defra's offer of £225m capital grants for farm investment in England including an interactive summary.

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Emma Reynolds, announced in her speech at the NFU Conference the welcome return of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2026, with a dedicated budget of £50m. FETF 2026 will re-open for applications on 17th March and will be available to all eligible farmers, growers, forestry owners and contractors in England (those registered with the RPA with an Single Business Identifier (SBI) number.) 💡 This annou