Annual conformation

[Clive]

How does this work ? ie our sfi application is the parcels we intend to put into various options but with many being rotational and there being flexibility to increase without limit and reduce area by up to 50% am I correct in understanding that we will have to effectively do a "application" each year at the agreement start date or is it a conformation we do at the end of each sfi year to say what we have done in that previous year before we start the next ?


with payments being quarterly and up front will you be asked to pay back if you reduce area in a end of year conformation ? or do they maybe claw it back via reduced payments in the next year ?


Anyone know how this works in practice ?

 

[Gedd]

I take it to be an annual update

 

[Nearly]

It won't even have occurred to them yet.

 

[bobk]

Blimey , thought @Clive had bottom problems for a mo

 

[farmerm]

How does this wok ? ie our sfi application is the parcels we intend to put into various options but with many being rotational and there being flexibility to increase without limit and reduce area by up to 50% am I correct in understanding that we will have to effectively do a "application" each year at the agreement start date or is is a conformation we do at the end of each sfi are to say what we have done in that previous year before we start the next ?


with payments being quarterly and up front will you be asked to pay back if you reduce area in a end of year conformation ? or do they maybe claw it back via reduced payments in the next year ?


Anyone know how this works in practice ?

No, nobody knows including the RPA, DEFRA and any one else involved in administering the scheme

Don't worry they will surely work it about by about 2035

 

[Clive]

I take it to be an annual update

mild dyslexia can be an arse sometimes ! fixed !

 

[Clive]

It won't even have occurred to them yet.

i suspect it must have as this is quite fundamentally to the flexibility of the rotational options

in sfi23 and pilot you did a conformation at year end, however there were no rotation options in those schemes so no area changes

 

[Gedd]

mild dyslexia can be an arse sometimes ! fixed !

Didnt mean that i think you need to update to the scheme on a yearly basis

 

[lloyd]

How does this wok ? ie our sfi application is the parcels we intend to put into various options but with many being rotational and there being flexibility to increase without limit and reduce area by up to 50% am I correct in understanding that we will have to effectively do a "application" each year at the agreement start date or is is a conformation we do at the end of each sfi are to say what we have done in that previous year before we start the next ?


with payments being quarterly and up front will you be asked to pay back if you reduce area in a end of year conformation ? or do they maybe claw it back via reduced payments in the next year ?


Anyone know how this works in practice ?

You've used one lifeline up i'd phone a friend .....Janet H?

 

[colhonk]

I thought you said earlier that it was all so easy?

 

[Flatland guy]

You've used one lifeline up i'd phone a friend .....Janet H?

Now he is asking the audience...

 

[lloyd]

Now he is asking the audience...

The trouble with that is probably 80% will end up giving him the wrong answer.

 

[Clive]

I thought you said earlier that it was all so easy?

it was easy to apply, my attention now naturally turns to understanding / learning what i will need to do next regarding administration

i’ve not seen any information on the question i ask however

 

[jonnieboy]

As they can’t even get the system for applications to match the handbook yet I can’t see they have thought much about yr2
RLE1 maybe?

 

[Hindsight]

How does this wok ? ie our sfi application is the parcels we intend to put into various options but with many being rotational and there being flexibility to increase without limit and reduce area by up to 50% am I correct in understanding that we will have to effectively do a "application" each year at the agreement start date or is is a conformation we do at the end of each sfi are to say what we have done in that previous year before we start the next ?


with payments being quarterly and up front will you be asked to pay back if you reduce area in a end of year conformation ? or do they maybe claw it back via reduced payments in the next year ?


Anyone know how this works in practice ?

One of my colleagues submitted an email to RPA asking specific questions about arrangement for rotating options for year 2. Received vague reply with the following 'catch all' paragraphs at the end of the email. So none the wiser really. I was disappointed with Janet Hughes and Jonathon Marsden TFF/DEFRA webinar as it didn't tackle any of these relevant issues. But was just a 'puff' piece for SFI. There are many practical questions which now require input from Defra.

We’ll let them know how to tell us about a change to the area and location of rotational actions for the 2nd and 3rd agreement years.

You can find more information about which SFI actions are rotational & how they work in the Handbook for the SFI 2023 offer

What you need to do
You don’t need to do anything unless you disagree with contents of this email. If so, please contact us to discuss this.

More information
You can read about the Sustainable Farming Incentive on GOV.UK.

If you have any questions about this email
You can email [email protected] or call us on 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm).

Yours sincerely


Connor Radford
Sustainable Farming Incentive Operations

 

[colhonk]

, Am thinking I will have to seriously look at this SFI malarky, BUT,,,,,,,,,,as you all have found out,the gov web sites say an awful lot of waffle but tell me nothing, Is there a difinitive
somewhere on internet that I can find to tell me the ins and outs for arable farm, hopefully thanking all for suggestions,

 

[2tractors]

Have done an annual declaration for a 2022 SFI agreement (even though these are now terminated) basically it was (in this case) a tick box to say you had complied with the agreement. In this case it had but there was a text box to complete if you had ticked no, presumably to tell the RPA what you had not managed to achieve in terms of actions.

Sorry not much help.

 

[Clive]

Have done an annual declaration for a 2022 SFI agreement (even though these are now terminated) basically it was (in this case) a tick box to say you had complied with the agreement. In this case it had but there was a text box to complete if you had ticked no, presumably to tell the RPA what you had not managed to achieve in terms of actions.

Sorry not much help.

yes I have done similar but those agreemnets had no rotational option in so no variation between years like there will be with our 24 agreement

this flexibility is great but it would be really helpful to fully understand how we do this in practice


i'm also concerned that with payment up front you might get a demand to repay if you reduce an option area at yr end conformation ....... some may have spent the cash by then !

 

[DrWazzock]

Wait till they’ve xxk of these to sift through. Fun and games. Reminiscent of my witheld greening payment in basic payment days. Took them 18 months to pay up. Good job I wasn’t relying on it.

 

[DrWazzock]

Two year Italian ryegrass grazed, wheat, barley, turnips, repeat. Agronomist wrote off my OSR this morning. Stem weevil. But IR will be the new break with a few more sheep.
I think I can do slightly better than SFI.