Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Honestly the arable options look better than I anticipated... I mean not great but I was expecting naff all tbh.
It says more than one standard can be applied to the same area of land. For example, the arable land standard, arable soils standard and hedgerow standard can all be applied to the same field, so:
Advanced arable land @ £74/ha looks fairly simple? Some rough grass/scrub strips, calibrate equipment, soil mapping, blah blah, few hoops but nothing truly awful.
Add on advanced arable soils @ £59/ha. Reduce tillage, use organic manure, cultivate across slopes, soil management plan, more blah. A lot of us do most of this already, doesn't look too onerous.
Add on introductory level hedges @ £16/100m. Don't cut all the hedges each year.
Add on intermediate level water buffers @ £29/100m. Decent grass buffer strips like many of us already have.
Obviously the devil's in the detail and we don't have anywhere near enough, but fag packet calculations suggest £55/ac could be had for arable land with a few ditches and hedges without too much hassle or cost. It could be workable/worthwhile but it's too soon to tell.
And goes without saying it's nowhere near as good as BPS.
I have a 2005 Entry Level Stewardship Manual I can lend you if you want to mug up on the exact rules in readiness. Its was the pretty sky blue book.