Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) said on 7 October 2026 that the first Letters of Offer under its Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme (SFIS), worth £15 million, would issue on 8 October. In the announcement, DAERA Minister Andrew Muir said the scheme will offer £40 million of investment support to farm businesses over the next three to four years.

SFIS is a capital grant scheme under DAERA’s Sustainable Agriculture Programme. It supports investment in equipment and technology by primary food producers in agriculture and horticulture, with the aim of improving environmental performance, animal health and business efficiency. Round 1 opened on 21 July and closed at 11.59pm on 3 September 2026.

How the grant works

According to the scheme guide published in July, SFIS pays 40% of the eligible claim value, based on whichever is lowest of the item’s reference price in the Letter of Offer, the updated item cost or the amount paid. DAERA set the reference prices using information from a wide range of suppliers. Projects must be between £3,000 and £62,500, excluding VAT, and a farm business can receive no more than £25,000 in grant across all rounds. The minimum grant in a round is £1,200. The scheme is governed by the Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026.

Only items on a fixed list are eligible. Examples in the guide include low emission slurry spreading equipment (LESSE) such as dribble bars, trailing shoes and shallow injectors, diet feeders with weighing systems, cover crop rollers, tractor-mounted sprayers with sectional and boom height control that are GPS ready, precision camera guided inter-row hoes, grain crimper rollers and plate coolers for milk. Each item was scored against objectives that include animal and plant health, soil health, water and air quality, greenhouse gas reduction, efficiency and innovation, with a cost-benefit weighting. LESSE and non-LESSE applications are ranked separately, and a cut-off score is set where a round is oversubscribed.

Farms with 200 or more cattle livestock units, which already have to use LESSE under the Nutrients Action Programme, cannot get LESSE grants. Businesses that previously received LESSE funding under the Farm Business Improvement Scheme Capital are also excluded from LESSE support.

Offers and deadlines

Successful applicants have 28 days to accept their Letter of Offer through the SFIS Scheme Portal, and offers not accepted by then expire. Separate offers are issued for LESSE and non-LESSE equipment, and each must be accepted on its own. DAERA’s guidance says grant will not be paid on items bought before the date of the Letter of Offer, and a deposit or invoice dated earlier means the full item amount is deducted from the claim.

The high level of demand is indicative of the investment required and it is important that funding is secured going forward to allocate to as many farm businesses as possible.

Andrew Muir, DAERA Minister

DAERA did not disclose how many applications it received, how many offers are being issued, the split between LESSE and non-LESSE offers or the cut-off score used in round 1. It has not announced a date for the next round.

TAD’s reading

  • For machinery dealers: With a 40% grant rate, £15 million of offers implies supported purchases worth well over the grant value, concentrated in the listed specifications. Because buying before the offer date voids the grant, orders are likely to follow acceptances rather than precede them.
  • For manufacturers: Grant is capped by DAERA’s supplier-based reference price, so any list price above that reference is paid by the farmer. Pricing close to the reference figures matters for conversion.
  • For policy watchers: The minister’s call to secure future funding suggests demand exceeded the first allocation, but DAERA has not published application numbers to confirm this.