Missed out on SFI? Why glamping might be your next move

A field can be more than a field...

The Sustainable Farming Incentive has reopened for 2026 in a new form. Defra has cut the list of actions from 102 to 71, which it says focuses funding on the options that offer the best value for food production and the environment. There's now a £100,000 annual cap for each farm business, and only one agreement is allowed per business. The aim is to spread funding more widely across the sector.

Demand has been high. The second application window opened on 22 September and closed the same afternoon, after around 12,200 applications had come in. Across both windows, £310m has been committed to new agreements. Defra has said it will look at alternatives to first-come, first-served for SFI27.

Whether or not you secured an agreement this year, it's a good moment to look at the wider picture. Many landowners are asking the same question: what else could this land be doing?

A field can be more than a field

Camping and glamping is one of the most natural fits for diversification. You don't need to change what the land is. You just let people come and enjoy it. A quiet corner of woodland, a field by a stream, or a spot with a view you've stopped noticing could be exactly what someone else is looking for.

Guests are actively searching for stays like this. They want somewhere small, peaceful and real, away from crowded holiday parks. Working farms and private land offer exactly that, and it's something you already have.

The planning question (and a simpler route)

This is where most landowners get stuck. Planning permission and site licences can feel like a mountain to climb before a single guest arrives.

There are a few routes for small camping sites, and they work very differently. The 28-day and 60-day rules limit how many days a year you can operate. Wanderlust works under a third route: the exemption in the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. As a qualifying exempted organisation, we can certify sites of up to five units. That means no full planning permission and no site licence, provided you meet our standards. There's also no cap on how many days you can open.

In other words, you could run a small, high-quality site all year round, without the usual red tape.

What Wanderlust looks for

Every site in our network is hand-vetted. We visit, walk the land, and get to know the people behind it. We look for character, a strong sense of place, and hosts who care how their guests feel.

Plenty of our sites are already on working farms. Tawny Oak Lodge is a cabin hidden in a family farm's woodland, for example. That's exactly the kind of place guests are looking for.

For many landowners, it's a way to add another income stream alongside farming and any scheme payments.

Glamping won't replace farming, and it doesn't need to. With up to five units, it's a manageable, low-impact addition that sits alongside what you already do. For many landowners, it's a way to build income that doesn't depend on the next funding window.

Thinking about what your land could become?

 Find out more about becoming a Wanderlust site or start your application with us.

Sources:

• Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026: The haves and have-nots (Farmers Weekly)
• SFI: What's changed in 2026? (Larking Gowen)
• SFI26 Update (Stowag)
• The evolution of the SFI (Cawood)