In the last week of January 2026 some 30 stakeholders have been invited to join the Farming and Countryside Programme’s ‘SFI Programme Forum meeting’, to discuss how they think the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) could be streamlined and changed, including whether some payments could be decreased.
Plantlife were not invited to be part of the Forum but Jo Riggall, Plantlife’s Grasslands Advocacy Officer, comments that it presents an opportune time to advocate for the importance and value for money of permanent grassland options in the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme. Plantlife have written a letter to the Minister Angela Eagle and copied to Mike Rowe, Director for Farming & Countryside Programme at Defra, which Herefordshire Meadows and other key organisations have signed.
Read the letter the Minister here :
The letter makes the case for managing and restoring species-rich grassland, new floodplain meadow actions, and a low-input grassland action with similar rates to herbal leys. We will keep you updated when a response is received.
This latest action follows on from Herefordshire Meadows being a signatory in 2025 to Plantlife’s call for a Grassland Taskforce. The reply from Minister Mary Creagh to that letter was very disappointing but inadvertently strengthened our case, in making the point that there is no dedicated grassland group or policy.
Not a single person is specifically responsible for grassland policy within Defra, despite different types of grasslands and meadows covering more than 40% of England’s land. In a response to Plantlife’s 2025 letter the Minister for Nature said:
“There is no single group responsible for grassland policy, as policies affecting grasslands cut across several Defra policy areas. These include Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMs), National Biodiversity, Protected Sites, the Land Use Framework and Protected Landscapes. There are also a range of habitat and species specialists in Natural England, including for grasslands.”
Minister Mary Creagh
Plantlife responded that this was exactly their point! And that siloed working on issues affecting grasslands has led to the UK Government missing opportunities to make the most of grasslands for nature, climate, food, & people.
Plantlife want to see their grassland expertise – and that of others – being valued by Defra, with dedicated resource on grasslands within policy making. It’s time for Defra to fill the grassland gap.
See the Minister’s full response letter here, and you can read Plantlife’s reaction via a Linkedin post here
We need the government to prioritise species-rich grassland protection, management, and restoration. Herefordshire Meadows are actively campaigning in other ways through Plantlife, to support our members and others to manage grasslands to benefit the climate and nature whilst producing healthy food.
Read our previous news item about this campaign here, which inclueds Plantlife’s SFI reform briefing note for Defra .
