Crop V ES wild bird feed block.

[Vader]

Just looking at ES payments .
We have some land that rarely does 3t as just nearly pure clay.

Thinking of putting as much as possible in ES as seems better than crop , esp if wheat prices come down with big harvests.

Or am I silly? ?

 

[Hereward]

Silly, wait a few years for a new scheme.

 

[Vader]

I got a hls finishing this time and lot if 6m margins and nectar blocks.
So if wait for a new scheme then will have to rip them all out and then have cost of re-establishment in future.

 

[yellow belly]

Silly, wait a few years for a new scheme.

why loose a few year payments and no harvesting cost

if elms come in in 2023 or 2024 it will take a year or 2 to work out how it works in practice
so aply for stewardship now and collect for 5 years
a bird in the hand

 

[Brisel]

Just looking at ES payments .
We have some land that rarely does 3t as just nearly pure clay.

Thinking of putting as much as possible in ES as seems better than crop , esp if wheat prices come down with big harvests.

Or am I silly? ?

What's silly about developing a profitable alternative instead of a loss making cereal? Go for it.

If you're looking at a bigger % of your farm in an CS scheme, consider how it will concentrate your overheads on a smaller area or enable you to develop other sources of income or even work less hours. Many treat CS schemes as a farm enterprise in its own right - I do & it has its own gross margin though it looks bad in year 1 with establishment costs but by year 5 looks great (if they ever actually pay for it).

Whilst there is pressure to develop the new ELM scheme it has already been knocked back by 3 years so why not do something new now under existing rules? If you remember, Gove did promise (which he didn't do very often) to not penalise existing ES scheme holders when the new ELM came out.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

Just looking at ES payments .
We have some land that rarely does 3t as just nearly pure clay.

Thinking of putting as much as possible in ES as seems better than crop , esp if wheat prices come down with big harvests.

Or am I silly? ?

You could look at it both ways? What happens if it’s a crap harvest and wheat is £200 again?

I am a bit biased though, most of these Es schemes I see look a right mess

 

[Vader]

On a side note .
I have just been informed that I can not apply for arable options due to shine.

They say I have roman underground stuff on a field.
I asked where when the land was open cast mined....

Oh they can see marks in the crop from Google earth...

Yes the marks from different soils and clays from the mining.
But guess not as I am just a simple farmer who has only farmed the land for 40 year's and know less than a student looking at Google earth.

 

[Brisel]

Shine is hardly infallible. The drought last year showed up lots of features not on the Shine map. I've got various options for reduced depth cultivations or taking features out of production into HS3 and HS4 which suits my shallow strip tillage. It's money for old rope!

 

[Vader]

Yeah but the features don't exist and they put a 40acre block into shine which means I cannot enter arable options

 

[Brisel]

You could look at it both ways? What happens if it’s a crap harvest and wheat is £200 again?

I am a bit biased though, most of these Es schemes I see look a right mess

A crap harvest on crap land still doesn’t mean you turn a profit on the land no matter what the grain price is.

You’re right about the mess the RPA is in over the admin of these schemes.

 

[Vader]

Just a follow up.
5 days before deadline rpa email me to say I can do arable options after all, they changed their mind after looking at it, so could now apply via online.
Apart from online was still saying no to me....
Sent a paper copy via recorded delivery...