Sustainable farming incentive - handbook for 2023 has been published

Janet Hughes Defra

Janet Hughes Defra

Member
✓
Afternoon all,

Today we've published a handbook containing all the detailed information about the sustainable farming incentive offer for this year.

The handbook is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfi-handbook-for-the-sfi-2023-offer

An overview blogpost is here: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/21/sfi-more-ways-to-enhance-your-income-productivity-and-the-environment/

The handbook sets out all the detailed actions, rules and requirements of the scheme, in a single handbook that you can download and print (because this is what many of you have asked us to do, rather than spreading the information across multiple pages on GOV.UK).

We have made some changes to the scheme in response to feedback from you and other farmers and through our pilot and early rollout of the scheme. In particular, we have made a much broader range of options available, made the scheme more flexible so you can pick the individual actions you want to do rather than having to do them in set combinations or percentages of land entered into the scheme.

Finally, I know I have not been present on the forum in the consistent, ongoing way many of you would like. I understand why that has been frustrating and annoying, and I am really sorry about that. I have found that am just not able to personally engage on every thread on an ongoing basis, I'm afraid. However I do really want to find a way of addressing your questions and hearing your feedback all the time, not just when we publish new information, so I am working with @Clive to put in place a better, ongoing, sustainable way of managing this so that you can ask questions of me and my team and give us feedback when they arise. We will let you know where we get to with that as soon as possible.

For this particular thread, I am planning to be online at least daily, for the next week, to answer your questions about the information we've published today. I have posted this as a question with voting, and if you could upvote questions that you particularly want me to address it would be helpful if you could vote for them so that I can prioritise my time and attention, and I will then do my best to work through as many of them as I possibly can. I hope this is helpful and look forward to your questions.

If you have questions about your specific farm situation, the best thing to do is contact the RPA contact centre and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

Thank you.
 
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Honestly this is where you get farmers feedback and where you should have laid out questions before any bps was removed , it seems the cart was sent out before the horse was even born you now have the whole budget and are asking us if we want to participate with tearms that are ludicrous to any business owner for little in return but a few quid and a "your doing your bit for the environment"? the forms are so complex that it might as well be written in binary code.
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DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
Not wasting any more time on this. The way it looks is that most significant options on arable (birdseed etc) in both SFI and stewardship leave you with £200 /acre profit (with no rent or borrowings) at the very most if things fall right and they rarely do. You are also beholden to the RPA and an inspector. So I’ll carry on cropping thanks very much. It’s my job. Call it what you like but I think I ought to do it.
 
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devonbeef

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Devon UK
Serious question which sends a chill down my spine is going to be the safety of some of this food coming in when Janet and her Defra team have reduced UK Agri output signifigantly .Similar policy's are being followed through across the Western world( apart from US) ,so the inevitable effect will be the richest will still have food as in most of the uk. (10 to 15% of uk might be on one meal a day, but hey ho that doesn't matter either) .So sticking with the fact that a continuation of Government policy will see Home production perhaps down too 20 to 30% then as a government buying food via supermarket on short market the seller will set terms. So if the country's with food decide to use certain banned chemicals, slave labour, appalling animal welfare standards, mix a bit of dog into processed food to make more money then suck it up western world, if you want to feed your population you Have to accept it, So really how does this sit with
you Government of the day and Janet team?
 
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livestock 1

Member
With the current unrest in Europe we should be having a big push towards production. We have seen what the effects are with what’s happening in Ukraine already a country at war. Seems like we are sleepwalking into a food security disaster which I cannot understand when there’s so many willing farmers who want to farm productively which is shown on here but limited due to policy to say the least
 
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DrWazzock

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Lincolnshire
I don’t think some of these environmental pundits appreciate the sheer scale of food supplies consumed in this country. It’s not an industry you can just scale back without possibly very serious consequences in a time of global scarcity. I really do start to question if they know what they are doing. We’ve been close enough to the brink with energy supplies. Do we ever learn? Far from reducing arable production by some 20 to 30% we should be looking at self sufficiency in more of the items that we presently import. But we seem permanently set on the wrong course. I can hardly believe it to be honest. It’s so shortsighted and in some way defeatist. It’s as if we given up as a nation. But no we can do this. We can achieve greater self sufficiency to high standards. Looks like we will get no help from government with that. Never mind. We will carry on.
 
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Velcro Gloves

Velcro Gloves

Member
Livestock Farmer
livestock 1 said:
With the current unrest in Europe we should be having a big push towards production. We have seen what the effects are with what’s happening in Ukraine already a country at war. Seems like we are sleepwalking into a food security disaster which I cannot understand when there’s so many willing farmers who want to farm productively which is shown on here but limited due to policy to say the least
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The annoying thing is imo, most of us want to farm sustainably and as productively as possible but this hoop jumping for peanuts just isn't going to cut it. It all seems great if you have big acreage and can afford to get somebody to sift through and work out what cover crops to plant where with your new precision drill but I'm 6k down on bps so far and my buildings are falling down around me, still at least I have £500 for the ahwp #rolling in it!!!
 
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topground

topground

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Somerset.
Velcro Gloves said:
The annoying thing is imo, most of us want to farm sustainably and as productively as possible but this hoop jumping for peanuts just isn't going to cut it. It all seems great if you have big acreage and can afford to get somebody to sift through and work out what cover crops to plant where with your new precision drill but I'm 6k down on bps so far and my buildings are falling down around me, still at least I have £500 for the ahwp #rolling in it!!!
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Except your vet will charge you for their time as expected. The report cost me £100 on top for a sheet of A4 that I virtually dictated. You will be lucky to have £130 net to show for your time.
 
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milkloss

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
I can't smell a riot yet. Despite many losing out there's still plenty soaking up a bit of money for old rope..... a bit of native breeds at risk with a little dose of higher water levels by blocking a few tile drains. As the rest of us drop out things will only get better for the rest. I don't begrudge anyone claiming some wonga for basically doing what they've always done but it needs spreading a little thinner imo.
 
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A

Allsorts

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Worcestershire
Fenchurch said:
@Janet Hughes Defra
Re grassland options: for a low-input grassland farm, the relevant items are SAM1 and LIG1. IPM1 and NUM1 seem to not really be relevant to such a farm, since nutrient inputs already constricted by LIG1, ditto for e.g., weed management. We could go through the motions of arranging a BASIS adviser visit to claim the money, but it's at best only marginally relevant to the land use and seems like a big waste of time and money. For most this will mean £156.80 per hectare plus £95, which, as others have noted means the offer is very limited compared to arable and improved grassland.

Further, LIG1 appears to be identical to GS2, except supplementary feeding is more relaxed. Can I ask what the rationale is for creating an SFI option that is so similar to an existing CS option? And paying the same rate while reducing benefits against compaction and pollution?
The level of ambition appears to have been scaled back dramatically, with several actions from the previous incarnation of the standard gone: hay making, scrub and wet features, promoting waders, etc.. Meanwhile, it's a whole parcel only option, so presumably we can't use CS options like SW11, WN2 and WD8? For those with existing CS agreements with options like these, there's no incentive to move to SFI, because that work isn't rewarded.

Could you also explain why the buffer strips IGL3 aren't eligible on low-input grassland? And also, why grazing is now allowed on watercourse buffer strips (change from requirements of the waterbody buffering standard)? Is there going to be a more ambitious option released later than does not permit grazing on buffer strips?

In general, there's seems to have been a real lack of thought applied to the low-input grassland offer, both in terms of ambition and payment rates. There's nothing new here, as GS2 already exists - I'm just struggling to see the idea behind it all, either in attracting farmers to the scheme, or in delivering environmental benefits.
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GS2 payment rate is the same, but under CS you have to commit to only cut half the hedges each year, no supplementary feeding and no cutting before 1st July plus have a soil sample? None of these stipulations appear to be in the SFI but the payment is the same? I am thinking of switching from CS to SFI.
 
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gone up the hill

gone up the hill

Member
Location
Devon
Northern territory said:
Do you think they will budge anymore now or is this the final version. New government in 18 months if not sooner
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The Cons are going to lose nearly all the remaining rural vote they had at the next election when it becomes clear to rural people and not just farmers but the supply industry as well how many jobs will be lost when Subs are removed from UK food production!
 
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gone up the hill

gone up the hill

Member
Location
Devon
Allsorts said:
GS2 payment rate is the same, but under CS you have to commit to only cut half the hedges each year, no supplementary feeding and no cutting before 1st July plus have a soil sample? None of these stipulations appear to be in the SFI but the payment is the same? I am thinking of switching from CS to SFI.
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Is that correct about low input grassland under SFI?

And surely the payment rate is more under SFI than CS for low input grassland?
 
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gone up the hill

gone up the hill

Member
Location
Devon
So a couple of questions for @Janet Hughes Defra

1 : Is this the last year farmers can apply for CS?

2 : Can you have say 2 CS agreements and a SFI agreement on one holding number ? ( assuming you are not claiming options on the same land parcel in 1 or more schemes )

3 : Will there be capital grants for things like concreting/ fencing etc under SFI from 2024 onwards if there is not a 2024 CS scheme you can apply for?

4 : Can you for example have low input grassland in a SFI and CS agreement as long as they are on seperate land parcels but one holding number for both agreements??

5 : If you apply for herbal leys for example do they have to be planted before you apply or can you drill them after you have applied and know you are in the SFI scheme?

6 : When will the first SFI payments after the application window opens in August for people who apply in the first few weeks be made?

7 : Will there be low input cereal options in the new SFI scheme?
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 113 38.4%

  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 112 38.1%

  • 25-50%

    Votes: 42 14.3%

  • 50-75%

    Votes: 6 2.0%

  • 75-100%

    Votes: 4 1.4%

  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 17 5.8%
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