Certain standards under the new Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) require participants in the scheme to create soil risk assessments and soil management plans as part of their agreement, but what exactly does this entail?
Both the arable and horticultural soils standard and the improved grassland soils standard require landowners and managers in the scheme to produce these plans in the first year of the agreement, and then update them annually, adding the results of any new soil analyses at the same time.
Soil Risk Assessment
The guidance states that participants of the pilot scheme can choose how they carry out this assessment, but the details can be a bit foggy, so we’ve picked out the main items to include in the assessment, below:
- Complete a soil organic matter analysis – a basic test through loss on ignition should be suitable
- Complete a lab soil texture analysis, to confirm the soil type
- Check what microorganisms the soil contains (an earthworm count is suitable)
- OR the amount of carbon dioxide the microorganisms produce, known as soil respiration
- Decide the risk of nitrate leaching for each field, based on soil depth and type. The guidance gives more information on what is classed as a shallow soil.
- Assess each field for risk to create a risk map of the farm, including all land in the pilot agreement. The items which need to be included are as follows:
- Soil type
- Slopes
- Watercourses, ditches, ponds, boreholes and wells
- Flood risk
- Wind erosion
- Shallow soils
- Classification of risk (Very High, High, Moderate, Low)
- Historic Features (use Magic Maps and the HEFER report requested at application stage).
Full guidance for the above can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complete-a-runoff-and-soil-erosion-risk-assessment
Biological Soil Tests: https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/biological-tests-for-soil-health
Magic Maps: https://magic.defra.gov.uk/MagicMap.aspx
Soil Management Plan
Again, the guidance states that participants can choose how to create their soil management plan, but we suggest displaying the results of the risk assessment on some risk maps, which should be very similar to those already required for land inside an NVZ.
- All features and risk levels listed under ‘Soil Risk Assessment’ above, can be displayed on the risk maps with additional information to be displayed in a table:
- Earthworm numbers
- Results of soil analyses
- Problems identified in fields
- Proposed management actions to resolve the problems identified
To choose management actions, you should think about:
- The risks and problems that you need to address
- How current management affects the soil
- What is achievable, depending on your soils
- What benefits you want to achieve
Full guidance on the soil management plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/create-and-use-a-soil-management-plan
The soil risk assessments and management plans required for SFI may be very similar to plans you already have to provide for farm assurance schemes or NVZ and cross compliance requirements, so as a starting point it is well worth reviewing any plans you already have.
If you do need further advice and guidance, or would like these plans drawn up professionally, contact us today on 01981 590514 for more information.
