Hot and dry weather: temporary support for farmers in 2026

Defra has introduced temporary adjustments to ELM revenue agreements under the following schemes:

• Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI)
• current Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT)
• legacy Countryside Stewardship – including Mid Tier (CSMT) and Higher Tier (CSHT)
• Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) under Environmental Stewardship (ES)

This is to recognise the extreme challenges farmers are facing with this year’s prolonged hot and dry weather.

The temporary adjustments have been introduced to:

• help reduce fire risk
• ease shortages of grazing, fodder, forage crops and bedding
• give some flexibility on the planting and establishment of seed mixes

For more detail on the temporary adjustments, read:

• Annex A: Temporary adjustment to allow the creation of firebreaks
• Annex B: Temporary adjustments for grazing, fodder, bedding and later establishment

This approach does not set a precedent for future years. Defra will consider the relevant circumstances at the time.

1. Land which qualifies for the temporary adjustments

You can only use a temporary adjustment if your land is located in a county with an Environment Agency drought status of ‘drought’ or ‘prolonged dry weather’. As of 15 August 2026, all counties in England are in one of these statuses.

2. Start and end dates for the temporary adjustments

The temporary adjustments started from 15 August 2026.

They end when the Environment Agency changes the drought status to ‘normal’ for the county your land is located in. You can check this on the Environment Agency’s ‘Dry weather and drought in England; summary reports’ on GOV.UK. You can find a list and a map of the counties in the ‘area drought status’ section of the latest available summary report.

The only exception to this end date is if the temporary adjustment for an action or option states otherwise. For example, if it allows you to graze the land until 14 February 2027.

Once the drought status for the county your land is located in changes to ‘normal’, it will no longer qualify for the temporary adjustments. In this case, if you cannot comply with the requirements in your ELM revenue agreement because of local drought or dry weather conditions, you must:

• for SFI, email (or write to) RPA as soon as possible about this change of circumstances, preferably within 8 weeks of you being able to do so
• for CS or ES, complete a CS and ES minor and temporary adjustment form and email it to RPA at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk (or write to RPA)

3. What the temporary adjustments mean for agreement holders

You can choose either to:

• continue with the existing requirements for the actions or options in your ELM revenue agreement without the temporary adjustments
• use the temporary adjustments – this will not affect the payments you receive under your ELM revenue agreement

If you use the temporary adjustments, you must still comply with all of the other obligations under your ELM revenue agreement.

You must also continue to meet the regulatory requirements which apply to you and your land, and comply with all relevant law including in respect of protected sites and species. This includes getting prior consent from Natural England for any activities you’re proposing to do on sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs).

Read the guidance on ‘Rules for farmers and land managers’ for more information.

Once the Environment Agency confirms that the drought status is ‘normal’ for the county your land is located in, you must follow the original requirements for all actions and options in your ELM revenue agreement. This includes re-establishing the action or option as soon as reasonably practicable, where relevant.

If you do not attempt to establish your actions or options this year, as required, this may be a breach of your ELM revenue agreement. This means you may be required to repay monies already paid to you.

4. What records agreement holders must keep

If you use the temporary adjustments, you must complete the temporary adjustment form and keep it for your records. Use a separate form for each ELM revenue agreement.

You must also keep the following records, as relevant:

• keep evidence of field operations at the parcel level (including associated invoices)
• stocking records to show grazing activity on parcels

You must supply these records if RPA asks for them.

5. Failed establishment of actions or options

You may try to establish your actions or options, but they fail because of the prolonged, hot and dry weather. This includes actions or options which you:

• tried to establish in spring 2026, such as SFI action CAHL2: Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land
• try to establish in summer or autumn 2026, regardless of whether you use the temporary adjustments which allow later establishment or not

In this case, you must either:

• for SFI, email (or write) to RPA as soon as possible about this change of circumstances, preferably within 8 weeks of you being able to do so
• for CS or ES, complete a CS and ES minor and temporary adjustment form and email it to RPA at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk (or write to RPA)

When you contact RPA by email, include in the subject line the relevant scheme, ‘TRA’ and your SBI, for example: CS - TRA - A12345678.

You do not need to re-establish these failed actions or options this year in order to be paid. However, you must re-establish them next year to continue to be paid for the actions or options in subsequent agreement years.

Annex A: Temporary adjustment to allow the creation of firebreaks

Firebreaks create a gap in vegetation or combustible material to help slow or stop the progress of wildfire.

Where possible, try to create any necessary firebreaks on headlands, tracks, bare soil or margins which are not entered into your ELM revenue agreement.

However, where this is not possible, this temporary adjustment allows you to create a firebreak on land in your ELM revenue agreement for the purpose of minimising the risk of fire.

This includes situations where you need to create a firebreak as an urgent preventative measure because, for example, there is:

• an existing wildfire that’s approaching
• infrastructure that needs to be protected from the potential risk of wildfire, such as housing

This temporary adjustment applies to ELM revenue actions or options on agricultural land that:

• is located below the moorland line
• is not a priority habitat, such as species-rich grassland, and is not woodland
• qualifies for a temporary adjustment - read section 1 ‘Land which qualifies for the temporary adjustments’ for more information

If you use this temporary adjustment, you are allowed to cut, clear or plough the land to create the necessary firebreak.

There are no required minimum or maximum widths for the firebreak. However, to be effective, the width of a firebreak will usually be around 3 times the height of the highest crop or vegetation next to it. For example, if there’s a wheat crop that’s around 1 metre high, the firebreak would be around 3 metres wide as a minimum.

Once this temporary adjustment has ended, you must reinstate the action or option as soon as reasonably practicable. If you are unable to do this, you must email (or write) to RPA as soon as possible.

You may want to consider the location of the action or option in future, for example, if it was located near to housing.

If you need to create a firebreak on land above the moorland line, on priority habitats, such as species-rich grassland, or woodland, you must either:

• for SFI, email (or write) to RPA as soon as possible about this change of circumstances
• for CS or ES, complete a CS and ES minor and temporary adjustment form and email it to RPA at ruralpayments@defra.gov.uk (or write to RPA)

Annex B: Temporary adjustments for grazing, fodder, bedding and later establishment

The following tables list the ELM revenue actions or options with temporary adjustments for grazing, fodder, bedding and later establishment.

For legacy CS, it includes Mid Tier (CSMT) and Higher Tier (CSHT).

For ES/HLS, it includes the HLS versions of the listed Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) and Organic Entry Level Stewardship (OELS) options. Those have an ‘H’ prefix instead of an ‘E’ or ‘O’.

Actions or options for arable and rotational land

Actions or options for buffer strips

Actions or options for farmland wildlife on arable and horticultural land

Actions or options for farmland wildlife on grassland

Actions or options for improving soil health

Actions or options for integrated pest management

Actions or options for nutrient management

Actions or options for organic farming

Actions or options for waterbodies