Do I need a land agent to apply for SFI?

No. Applying for SFI is something any farmer can do directly through the Rural Payments service on GOV.UK — a land agent isn’t a requirement.

In practice, working out which of 71 actions suit your farm, what they’re worth, and how they stack together is genuinely complex, which is why many farmers pay an advisor to work it out for them. Withy exists as a lower-cost middle ground: a plain-English plan for £25 a year, without needing an agent for the planning stage. You (or an agent, if you use one) still submit the actual application yourselves on GOV.UK.