Sustainable farming incentive details published today 2 December 2021

Scrambler · Dec 2, 2021

As an arable farm with 20% woodland,£40/ha on the land I have that is eligible will not compensate for my %age loss of BPS even before I take account of the extra costs involved. Also, there seems to be very little if any benefit for the environment or wildlife.
The CS Arable offer I am currently in pays better and does much more for wildlife.
I hoped for something much more ambitious and interesting to get involved with.

Wombat · Dec 2, 2021

Edit sorry found that info so no need to reply and deleted the question

SteveHudd · Dec 2, 2021

Does chopping straw count as applying organic matter?

Still Farming · Dec 2, 2021

Will The Government be launching (industry wide accepted ) Carbon Calculators with facilities to input individual farms and varied business interests to produce proven calculations soon please also ?

turbo · Dec 2, 2021

If £44/ha is the best you can do @Janet Hughes Defra ,every bit of my farm will have to produce! So it will be bye bye any margins or wild bird mix and the organic permanent pasture will have to be fertilized to make up for the loss of sub on it.

Janet Hughes Defra · Dec 2, 2021

yellow belly said:
can we still apply for mid tier stewardship for 2023 start

ihmo a known known is preferable to an unknown untested scheme

Yes, you can - you can still go into CS mid-tier in 2023 or 2024 - 2024 will the last year you can do that; from 2025 you'll only be able to come in through new schemes.
We'll provide a smooth way for you to transfer from CS to the new schemes after 2024.

Janet Hughes Defra · Dec 2, 2021

redsloe said:
Pretty sure I read that CS agreements can start up to 2024 scheme year.

We plan to introduce more standards incrementally between 2023 and 2025, with the full range being available from 2025 onwards. Existing schemes will continue to be available during that time, with the last applications for new Countryside Stewardship agreements in 2023, to start in 2024. From 2025, it will only be possible to enter into new agreements through our new environmental land management schemes

Yes that's correct

Janet Hughes Defra · Dec 2, 2021

EJS said:
Yes me too - interested in answer

Yes - you can enter your arable parcels into SFI alongside your other parcels in CS. You can also have the same parcel in both schemes as long as we're not paying you twice for the same thing, or for 2 incompatible things.

Janet Hughes Defra · Dec 2, 2021

redsloe said:
We are in year 1 of a CS agreement that covers approx 60% of our farmed area. Mostly permanent pasture and herb rich leys.
Presumably we could enter our arable land into the soil element assuming we satisfy the relevant criteria as well as the CS from next year?

Yes - you can enter your arable parcels into SFI alongside your other parcels in CS. You can also have the same parcel in both schemes as long as we're not paying you twice for the same thing, or for 2 incompatible things.

farenheit · Dec 2, 2021

@Janet Hughes Defra, I'll take this as it should be read, which is that we are being offered a contract to provide a service, and so should be paid an amount that would be perceived as profitable. I think all these amounts are very unprofitable. £44/hectare, from the smallest to the largest farm, will barely cover the adminstrative cost. I would ask you, when you procure services within the civil service, be that admin costs, or specialist assistance (perhaps from legal services or marketing, or IT which is your specialism) what you must pay? Probably in the order of £80-250/hour. Why must farmers do everything for what would appear to be well below minimum wage? In the past with BPS also, farmers probably feel that the CS schemes are a nice add-on, but without that, these need to stand on their own feet. They simply don't. Its your choice to offer that price but you'll find those who sit down and do the sums will see that there really is little point.

Edit: notwithstanding that I think you personally are doing a very good job with a complete lack of ideology of what British agriculture should be from the SoS. There is some serious fiddling round the edges here, with so little ambition.

Humble Village Farmer · Dec 2, 2021

My current HLS scheme ends in Feb. I can't start a mid or higher tier till Jan 23.

Can I apply for the sfi for the 10 months of 2022 when I'm not in a scheme, without double funding?

Janet Hughes Defra · Dec 2, 2021

SteveHudd said:
Does chopping straw count as applying organic matter?

Yes

Humble Village Farmer · Dec 2, 2021

Will it be feasible to be in a mid or higher tier agreement and still claim for elements of the sfi which aren't double funded?

Courier · Dec 2, 2021

What provisions have been made for perennial crops grown for biomass, such as miscanthus ...?

Velcro Gloves · Dec 2, 2021

Hampton said:
Have I got the beef bit right,
If I follow the welfare directives I will get £522 per animal?

I think you get a single payment of £522 to pay the vet for a two hour health review.

Tomgegg · Dec 2, 2021

Am I right in understand that the overall ELMs funding package will be GBP 0.9 billion per year for England? Can you confirm what the overall ELMs funding level will be per year for the UK as a whole?

Wombat · Dec 2, 2021

Velcro Gloves said:
I think you get a single payment of £522 to pay the vet for a two hour health review.

Vets are going be driving Bentleys like fertiliser salesmen

Midnight plough boy · Dec 2, 2021

@Janet Hughes Defra will we be able to enter the intermediate level, and then access the higher level when it is introduced, or if wanting to go onto the higher level do we have to wait and not enter either of the other two levels?

Greythundercloudys · Dec 2, 2021

I'm sure this includes old pp and moorland, not much can be done with that but leave as is.

Velcro Gloves · Dec 2, 2021

Janet Hughes Defra said:
Morning all

Today we'll be publishing some information about how the sustainable farming incentive will work when we start rolling it out from next year in England.

I'll post the links here as soon as they're online, and will be here on this thread over the next few days to answer your questions about it.

Update:

Here is a link to our programme blog, with links to the documents we've published today and an explanation of what we're doing and why: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2021/12/02/sfi-standards/

Also:

Here is a direct link to a document setting out how the sustainable farming incentive will work from 2022: https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...ng-incentive-how-the-scheme-will-work-in-2022

Here is a link to a speech George Eustice, Secretary of State, made this morning: https://www.gov.uk/government/speec...tary-speech-at-cla-conference-2-december-2021

And here is a link to a statement in Parliament about progress in delivering our new schemes:

Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.

questions-statements.parliament.uk

I have a 200 acre farm which is all low input permanent pasture and specie's rich meadows, we were one of the first farms to enter into css in 1991.
Is there anything farms like mine can get involved in before 2024 (permanent pasture standard) because it really feels we're getting punished for doing the right thing.
Thanks for your time Janet.

Sustainable farming incentive details published today 2 December 2021

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0 %

Up to 25%

25-50%

50-75%

75-100%

100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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