There are 13,900 live Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreements now in place, undertaken by 13,400 farmers and land managers, Defra figures show.
This represents over 2 million hectares of land in England, with the department saying the figures were 'really encouraging'.
Defra has updated the data showing the uptake of actions in the SFI as well as the Countryside Stewardship (CS) and Environmental Stewardship (CS).
The latest figures, as of 1 April 2024, show that there are 55,000 agri-environment agreements in total across England.
Breaking down this number, there are 34,900 CS agreements, 6,200 ES agreements and 13,900 SFI 2023 agreements.
And to date, the government said it had received over 20,000 applications to the SFI.
Defra said in a blog post: "This is higher than uptake in the first few years of Countryside Stewardship and is on track to achieve higher uptake than the first year of Environmental Stewardship.
"We want to support more farmers than ever before to produce food in a sustainable way that improves the environment."
According to Defra commissioned research, 81% of farmers rated the existing SFI offer positively, an increase from 51% at a similar point in the SFI pilot.
Earlier this year, changes were made to the SFI for 2024, including increased payments and new options such as support for precision farming and uplands and moorlands.
