Evie Price from our Stewardship and Grants department looks at why farmers should consider signing up to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme.
The choice to ‘mix and match’ payment levels
If you’re prepared to do more under the SFI, you will be paid a higher rate. At present, both the grassland and arable land standards have a choice of two levels – ‘introductory’ and ‘intermediate’. (The moorland standard currently only offers ‘introductory’). Future standards are expected to have two or three payment levels. So, if you have arable and grass, you could opt for both standards – maybe signing up to the lower level of the arable and the higher level of grassland. It’s also looking likely you’ll be able to make changes to your choices as time passes. It’s worth noting that if you go for the higher arable level payment, you have to put 20% of your land into a multi-species cover crop. Traditionally, that might have meant a mix of different plants, but you can actually have just two species of grass. You could leave it down over the winter, then take an early crop of silage and put in a maize crop or a spring cereal or opt to retain the ley for the whole year.
There is no need to take areas out of production
The SFI doesn’t involve buffer strips or leaving corners of fields unmanaged – basically, all your land can remain in productive agricultural use. Of course, farmers may have an odd wetter patch or less accessible field corner, but they may still wish to keep this in production, retain the flexibility to manage such areas how they want, without being tied into an agreement dictating how. In these volatile times, being able to react and respond to changes in market conditions is important.
Flexibility managing improved grassland
The SFI doesn’t put restrictions on stocking rates or fertiliser and manure application levels and dates. It also doesn’t prescribe dates when swards can be grazed or cut for silage and hay. This allows more freedom choosing application rates to suit your system and the timing of activities such as silaging which are often best dictated by the weather, rather than the calendar. The thrust of the SFI is to set out actions it wants farmers to take, without attaching strings, unlike the Countryside Stewardship (CS) grassland options, many of which focus on reducing fertiliser and manure usage and may only allow certain activities in certain time windows. The SFI is, therefore, less likely to necessitate big changes to your practises and could be a better potential fit for high-input, high-output grassland. It’s worth remembering that such grassland has environmental benefits, too, as it sequesters carbon and can bring benefits for wildlife.
Herbal ley payment across all your land
The intermediate level in the grassland standard requires farmers to establish herbal leys on 15% of their land, but they then qualify for the same payment rate across all of their grassland. Compare this to CS – where, if you opt for a herbal ley, you have to state in advance how many acres of that ley you are going to have each year and you’re only going to be paid on the areas where you actually have it. Under the SFI, the payment for the lower level of the grassland is £28/ha/year, with £58/ha on offer for the higher one. Herbal leys are lauded for the way they can improve soil condition and structure, sequester carbon, retain moisture, fix nitrogen (reducing artificial applications) and provide ‘herbal worming’ through use of plants like chicory. They can work well with rotational mob grazing systems – and you’ve still, of course, got the option to have a ryegrass-based mix elsewhere on the farm.
No attached unpaid conditions
The SFI doesn’t come with unpaid conditions – unlike CS which puts, for example, a 50% limit on hedgerow cutting if you enter an agreement. Failure to stick to this if you sign up to an agreement would represent a breach, even though there’s no direct financial benefit from doing it.
More simple to apply and quicker payments
The SFI has a rolling application window, online via the Rural Payments service. You don’t have to send in additional evidence or maps as you do with CS. Soil management plans and soil organic matter testing is required for both the arable and grassland standards, but farmers may well be doing the soil tests for other regulations such as Farming Rules for Water anyway. Agreements can begin as early as on the first day of the month after you make your application and, as the payments are quarterly, you should receive the first money within three months, which will help with cashflow. Compare this with a CS agreement completed in spring 2023, starting in January 2024, which would receive a single payment in December 2024 at the earliest (and it could even be March 2025).
You get a ‘sign-up’ fee
There is now an additional payment of £20/ha on the first 50ha of land included, which can help cover administration costs. This was introduced after criticisms that the payments weren’t enough to justify getting help from an advisor to complete the application.
There is more to come…
Defra has announced its planning to introduce six new standards in summer 2023, giving more choice to farmers. The new ones will cover hedgerow management; integrated pest management; nutrient management; arable and horticultural land; improved grassland; and low input grassland.
If you would like help or guidance with an application, please contact our Stewardship and Grants department on 01981 590514.
