Sustainable Farming Incentive Update

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Sustainable Farming Incentive Update

Wed 21 Jun 2023

Insights

Agricultural business consultancy

After a long wait the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) have finally announced more details on the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) today (21.06.2023), an update that is long overdue as many people have been waiting for details to decide on how to progress with their own agri-environmental schemes.

Schemes will last for three years, with opportunities to apply for the next set of standards when they are published in 2024. Payments under the scheme will be paid in quarterly instalments with the first payment made four months after your agreement starts. The SFI 2023 offer now includes a management payment of £20/ha for the first 50 ha included in a SFI agreement.

There are a mix of rotational and static options with the possibility of varying the coverage of the rotational options, so they work with your crop rotation and different sizes of parcels. You can increase and decrease your areas - as long as it’s within 50% of the original area applied for.

All SFI applications for the arable and horticultural soil standard are now closed and this standard will not be included going forwards. The old arable and horticultural soil standard was a percentage cover option, with strict rules about overlap.

Anyone with an existing SFI scheme or who have previously applied for the arable and horticultural soil standard will be contacted by Defra to ensure that they do not lose out, but the RPA have not explained what this means.

The new Soils standard offers more flexibility with other agri-environmental scheme overlap, meaning you can receive payment for SAM1 to overlap with some options under Countryside Stewardship (CSS). In general, the payment rates for all SFI options are very similar to the equivalent options under CSS.

The options you can apply for under the SFI 2023 are listed in the table below, it is also indicated if they can be rotational or static and whole or part parcel.

If you have any questions about the Sustainable Farming Incentive, it’s interactions with other schemes or Countryside Stewardship please contact your local Brown&Co office.

Standard	Option code	Option	Annual payment	Rotational /static	Whole or part parcel
Actions for Soils	SAM1	Assess soil, test soil organic matter and produce a soil management plan	£5.80 per hectare and an additional payment of £95 per agreement	Static	Whole parcel
	SAM2	Multi-species winter cover crops	£129 per hectare	Both	Both
	SAM3	Herbal leys	£382 per hectare	Both	Both
Actions for Moorlands	MOR1	Assess moorland and produce a written record	£10.30 per hectare and an additional payment of £265 per agreement	Static	Whole parcel
Actions for Hedgerows	HRW1	Assess and record hedgerow	£3 per 100 metres - one	Static	N/A
	HRW2	Manage hedgerows	£10 per 100 metres - one side	Static	N/A
	HRW3	Maintain or establish hedgerow trees	£10 per 100 metres - both sides	Static	N/A
Actions for integrated pest management	IPM1	Assess integrated pest management and produce a plan	£989 per year	N/A	N/A
	IPM2	Flower-rich grass margins, blocks, or infield strips	£673 per hectare	Both	Both
	IPM3	Companion crop on arable and horticultural land	£55 per hectare	Both	Both
	IPM4	No use of insecticide on arable crops and permanent crops	£45 per hectare	Both	Whole parcel
Actions for nutrient management	NUM1	Assess nutrient management and produce a review report	£589 per year	N/A	N/A
	NUM2	Legumes on improved grassland	£102 per hectare	Both	Both
	NUM3	Legume fallow	£593 per hectare	Static	Both
Actions for farmland wildlife on arable and horticultural land	AHL1	Pollen and nectar flower mix	£614 per hectare	Static	Both
	AHL2	Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land	£732 per hectare	Both	Both
	AHL3	Grassy field corners and blocks	£590 per hectare	Static	Both
Actions for farmland wildlife on improved grassland	IGL1	Take grassland field corners or blocks out of management	£333 per hectare	Static	Both
Actions for farmland wildlife on improved grassland	IGL2	Winter bird food on improved grassland	£474 per hectare	Both	Both
Actions for buffer strips	AHL4	4m to 12m grass buffer strip on arable and horticultural land	£451 per hectare	Static	Both
Actions for buffer strips	IGL3	4m to 12m grass buffer strip on improved grassland	£235 per hectare	Static	Both
Actions for low input grassland	LIG1	Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs (outside SDAs)	£151 per hectare	Static	Only total SFI available area, unless done with IGL1
Actions for low input grassland	LIG2	Manage grassland with very low nutrient inputs (SDAs)	£151 per hectare	Static	Only total SFI available area, unless done with IGL1

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