Choose your business structure

Decide whether to trade as a sole trader, limited company, or partnership. Many farms operate as partnerships or family companies to manage succession and liability.

Requirement

All agricultural land holdings in England must be registered with the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to access farming schemes and payments. You'll receive a Single Business Identifier (SBI) number which is your unique farm reference.

Registration involves mapping your land parcels digitally through the Rural Payments service. You'll need to identify field boundaries, land use types, landscape features (hedgerows, ponds, walls), and any environmental designations. Individual schemes set their own eligibility rules (for example, the reformed SFI 2026 has a 3-hectare minimum).

County Parish Holding (CPH) numbers: If you keep cattle, bison, buffalo, pigs, goats, sheep, deer or poultry, you must also register for a CPH number from the RPA (the process differs if you keep fewer than 50 poultry). You need a CPH before moving those animals onto your holding. Each separate piece of land needs its own CPH if it's not physically contiguous.

What you can do with an SBI: Apply for SFI (Sustainable Farming Incentive), Countryside Stewardship, capital grants, animal health reviews, and other farming schemes. Your SBI links your business to your land and forms the basis of all RPA interactions.

Applies to: All farmers and landowners with agricultural land in England who want to access farming payments and schemes

Official guidance

gov.uk

Register agricultural land online (opens in a new tab)

Create an RPA account and register your agricultural land to receive your SBI number. You'll need field maps, land ownership evidence, and OS grid references.

Requirement

If you keep cattle, bison, buffalo, pigs, goats, sheep or deer - even one animal - you must register for a County Parish Holding (CPH) number before moving animals onto your land. Poultry keepers must also register with APHA, whatever the number of birds.

A CPH identifies the geographic location of your livestock. Each separate piece of land needs its own CPH if not contiguous. In England you apply to the Rural Payments Agency for your CPH, then register as a keeper with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) before moving animals onto the holding.

Livestock-specific registrations:

Cattle: Register as a keeper with BCMS (British Cattle Movement Service), maintain herd register, report all cattle movements within 3 days, keep cattle passports
Sheep and goats: Hold flock/herd mark, register holding, report the annual sheep/goat inventory (count on 1 December, return by 31 December), tag animals before moving off-holding
Pigs: Tell APHA within 30 days of pigs arriving, tag pigs before moving, keep movement records
Poultry: Register with APHA within one month of keeping birds, whatever the number

Failure to register or maintain livestock records is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution, movement restrictions, and loss of farming payments.

Applies to: Keepers of cattle, bison, buffalo, pigs, goats, sheep or deer in Great Britain, including anyone keeping one animal for non-commercial purposes; poultry keepers in England and Wales.

Official guidance

Livestock registration requirements

Keeping cattle, sheep, pigs or other livestock requires CPH registration, movement reporting, and animal identification.

A County Parish Holding (CPH) number is a 9-digit unique identifier required before keeping any livestock in England. It identifies the land where animals are kept.

CPH format: XX/XXX/XXXX (county code / parish code / holding number)
Who needs a CPH: Anyone keeping cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, deer, or poultry (since 1 October 2024 all bird keepers must register regardless of flock size)
Includes: Pet livestock, hobby animals, and commercial herds/flocks
Application timing: Apply maximum 6 weeks before livestock arrive
Processing time: Within 10 working days by email
Cost: Free

How to apply - online: Via Rural Payments service (if not already registered)
How to apply - phone: 03000 200 301 (RPA helpline)

gov.uk

Register for a CPH number (opens in a new tab)

Apply through the Rural Payments Agency before moving any livestock onto your holding. You'll need your address, OS grid reference, and land size.

gov.uk

Register for Self Assessment or Corporation Tax (opens in a new tab)

All farming businesses must register with HMRC for tax. Sole traders and partnerships use Self Assessment. Limited companies register for Corporation Tax.

Choosing the right business insurance

Start with the insurance the law requires: if you employ anyone, you must have employers' liability insurance with at least £5 million cover, and business vehicles need motor insurance.

Insurance for farming businesses

Farms face unique risks from livestock, machinery, and public access. Get specialist agricultural insurance covering buildings, stock, equipment, and liability.

The insurance your business needs depends on what it does. Some types are required by law. Some are required by professional regulators. The rest are not required by law, but you may still need them for contracts or to protect your business. Each type below starts with its legal status, so you can see which group it is in.

Employers' Liability: Required by law if you employ anyone, with at least £5 million of cover. Covers claims from employees injured or made ill at work.
Motor Insurance: Required by law for any vehicle used for business on roads or in other public places. Driving uninsured is a criminal offence. Covers claims from accidents in vehicles used for work.
Professional Indemnity: Required by some professional regulators, for example for many solicitors, financial advisers and architects. Covers claims of negligent advice.
Public Liability: Not required by law, but clients and landlords often require it in contracts. Covers claims for injury to other people or damage to their property.
Products Liability: Not required by law, but essential if you make or sell goods. Covers claims from defective products.
Business Contents: Not required by law, but recommended if you have equipment or stock. Covers business assets against theft, fire and damage.
Business Interruption: Not required by law, but recommended if a fire or flood would stop you trading. Covers lost income when you cannot trade.
Cyber Insurance: Not required by law, but recommended if you hold personal data or rely on IT. Covers data breaches, ransomware and regulatory fines where insurable.
Key Person: Not required by law, but worth considering if your business depends on a few people. Covers the business if one of them dies or is incapacitated.

Choosing the right cover

Do you employ anyone? Employers' Liability is required by law
Do you use vehicles for work? Business motor insurance is required by law for use on roads or in other public places
Are you in a regulated profession? Check whether your professional regulator requires Professional Indemnity, and how much
Do you deal with customers or visit other premises? Public Liability is not required by law, but clients and landlords often require it
Do you make or sell physical products? Products Liability is not required by law, but essential

Requirement

Rules that replaced cross-compliance

Cross-compliance ended on 31 December 2023, and England has no 'conditionality' regime. What applies now is a combination of:

Baseline domestic law that binds every farm regardless of scheme membership - Farming Rules for Water, NVZ rules, the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 (2-metre buffer strips and a 1 March - 31 August cutting ban, enforced by the RPA), environmental permits, and animal identification and welfare law
Scheme agreement terms: if you hold an SFI or Countryside Stewardship agreement, you must deliver the actions you signed up for

The RPA takes an advice-led approach: minor first-time issues normally result in guidance, while breaches of agreement terms can lead to payment recovery or agreement termination, and breaches of the underlying law can be prosecuted.

Applies to: All farmers in England; agreement terms apply to recipients of SFI, Countryside Stewardship, or other agri-environment payments

Official guidance

Environmental compliance baseline

Baseline legal rules on water, soil, hedgerows and animal welfare apply to all farms; scheme agreements add their own terms, with payment recovery or termination for breach.

Cross-compliance ended in England on 31 December 2023, when delinked payments replaced the Basic Payment Scheme. It was not replaced by an EU-style "conditionality" regime — there are no GAEC or SMR standards in England, and no percentage payment-reduction matrix.

What applies instead

Baseline law that applies to every farm: the Farming Rules for Water, Nitrate Vulnerable Zone rules, the Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 (2-metre buffer strips from the hedge centre and no cutting from 1 March to 31 August), slurry and fuel storage standards (SSAFO), environmental permits, and animal identification and welfare law.
Scheme agreement terms: if you hold an SFI or Countryside Stewardship agreement, you must deliver the actions you are paid for. The Rural Payments Agency takes an advice-led approach; breaches of agreement terms can lead to recovery of payments or termination of the agreement.

Enforcement

The underlying rules are enforced directly by the responsible regulators — the Environment Agency, APHA, the RPA (hedgerow rules and scheme terms) and local authorities — through advice, civil sanctions and, for serious breaches, prosecution.

Cross-compliance end date: 31 December 2023 (England); delinked payments from 1 January 2024 carry no land-management conditions
Hedgerows: Management of Hedgerows (England) Regulations 2024 — 2m buffer strips from the hedge centre; no cutting 1 March to 31 August (RPA enforces with civil sanctions)
Water and nutrients: Farming Rules for Water and NVZ rules continue to apply directly
Scheme agreements: SFI and Countryside Stewardship breaches are handled by payment recovery or agreement termination, not percentage reductions
Scotland: Scotland retains cross-compliance alongside its Basic Payment Scheme

Rules for farmers and land managers (opens in a new tab)

Check if you need to register for VAT

You must register for VAT when your taxable turnover passes the registration threshold in any rolling 12 months, or when you expect it to pass the threshold within the next 30 days alone.

Set up PAYE if hiring employees or seasonal workers

Register as an employer before your first payday. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland agricultural minimum wage rules still apply (England abolished its Agricultural Wages Board in 2013, so National Minimum/Living Wage applies).

Health and safety on farms

Agriculture has one of the highest rates of workplace injury. Ensure proper training, guarding on machinery, safe chemical storage, and livestock handling facilities.

Written policy (5+ employees): Required in writing
Risk assessment: Required for all employers
Employers' Liability insurance: £5 million minimum cover
First aid provision: Equipment and people, based on assessed needs
Accident book (RIDDOR): Record injuries; report specified incidents to HSE

HSE - Getting started with health and safety (opens in a new tab)

hse.gov.uk

Understand farm health and safety requirements (opens in a new tab)

HSE guidance for agriculture covers machinery safety, livestock handling, chemical storage, confined spaces, working at height, and lone working.

gov.uk

Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI 2026) (opens in a new tab)

SFI is closed to new applications. Its 2026 windows ran from 30 June to 28 August 2026 for small farms and on 22 September 2026 for all farms, and the 2027 offer is not yet announced. SFI 2026 offered 71 actions with a £100,000 cap per agreement year.

Sustainable Farming Incentive overview

Delinked payments replaced the Basic Payment Scheme from 2024 and end after 2027; SFI pays for environmental land management actions - from soil management to hedgerows to IPM. Payments are quarterly.

Status: Closed to new applications
SFI26 Window 1: Closed 28 August 2026 (small farms and farms without an ELM revenue agreement)
SFI26 Window 2: Closed 22 September 2026 (all eligible farmers and land managers)
Existing agreements: Continue under the scheme information for their offer
Agreement length: Usually 3 years (shorter for some organic conversion actions)
Number of actions: 71 in SFI26 (102 in SFI24)
Minimum land: 3 hectares of agricultural land linked to your SBI
Agreement value limit: £100,000 per agreement year, one SFI26 agreement per farm business
Payment: Quarterly instalments by BACS
Compatibility: Can be held alongside Countryside Stewardship, with no payment twice for the same action on the same land

SFI is England's entry-level environmental land management scheme, funded under powers in section 1 of the Agriculture Act 2020. It pays farmers and land managers to carry out SFI actions that protect the environment, support food production and improve productivity.

Example SFI26 annual payment rates

Multi-species winter cover crop (CSAM2): £129 per hectare
Herbal leys (CSAM3): £224 per hectare
Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs (CLIG3): £151 per hectare
Manage hedgerows (CHRW2): £13 per 100m for one side
Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land (CAHL2): £648 per hectare
Flower-rich grass margins, blocks or in-field strips (CIPM2): £798 per hectare

Agreements made before SFI26

If you hold an SFI24 or re-opened SFI24 agreement, you follow the scheme information for that offer, and its payment rates differ from SFI26. SFI23 agreements follow the SFI 2023 handbook. In the re-opened SFI24 offer (applications 7 July to 1 September 2025), applicants in the restricted group were limited to an annual agreement value of £9,300, excluding the SFI management payment. SFI26 has no management payment.

Eligibility: Eligible land in England, management control of it for the whole agreement, and a farm business registered with the RPA with an SBI
Payment process: No claim needed; payment is made by BACS, with an annual declaration before the fourth instalment
Rotational actions: A rotational actions declaration is due near the end of years 1 and 2

Sustainable Farming Incentive (opens in a new tab)

Start an agriculture business

Next steps

Self Assessment for landlords

Insuring your new business

Flood and water management for your business

Related journeys

Starting farming: complete compliance journey

Open a shop

Start a restaurant

Start a construction business