NFU claiming credit for 25% SFI cap

[Grass And Grain]

I have cut this type of stuff for silage before and the annual grasses really don't like it at all.

It's a very big if, but if you get good growing conditions after your first cut, the clovers will smother out any annual grasses and stop them seeding.

Getting 3 cuts of high protein forage with no N applied off before going back into the arable rotation is sustainable alright.

Think I need to pay more attention to this this year, although not supposed to remove cuttings with AB15 (We're in mid tier CS, possibly different rules for SFI Legume fallow).

Keeping on thread topic, no limit for SFI NUM3 legume fallow . DEFRA haven't given this 25% limit much thought, although I suppose they've capped some of the highest remunerated options.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Do we know what the 6 are ,a livestock farm is quite different to am arable , he won't be Chopping Sam 3 back to the soil

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Think I need to pay more attention to this this year, although not supposed to remove cuttings with AB15 (We're in mid tier CS, possibly different rules for SFI Legume fallow).

Keeping on thread topic, no limit for SFI NUM3 legume fallow . DEFRA haven't given this 25% limit much thought, although I suppose they've capped some of the highest remunerated options.

Don't think there are any restrictions to number of cuts or removing cuttings in the first year in the SFI module. But I'm not certain so best to check.

 

[Grass And Grain]

Don't think there are any restrictions to number of cuts or removing cuttings in the first year in the SFI module. But I'm not certain so best to check.

No, I don't think there are, but if it's only on place for a singe season, then it's supposed to meet the aims of (can't remember) summer flowers?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

No, I don't think there are, but if it's only on place for a singe season, then it's supposed to meet the aims of (can't remember) summer flowers?

Better make sure you have someone taking a picture of you taking a picture of your flowers, or they could say they are next doors flowers

 

[homefarm]

NFU claims have been fanciful for years.

Urea, pesticide tax, red diesel glyphosate etc. all claim to have been saved by NFU and them alone.

In fact the truth is many others had input and often the best decision was reached in spite of the NFU not because of them.

DEFRA capped SFI to try control thier budget, no one influenced that decision in my opinion.

If they had listened before perhaps the cap could have been avoided if they had listened now the cap could be better.
They do not seem to take advise from anyone and I find the NFU claims at best decitfull.

 

[snarling bee]

If farmers wish to max out on SFI field scale non-cropping options, then that reduces food production, which means price rises.

I think that is school economics.
The UK grows a tiny fraction of the world's food. Apart from being at import parity there is almost no correlation between our crop prices and the size of our harvest. The weather in the States, Russia and South America is the biggest influence and we need 2 out of 3 to be much too wet or far too dry for there to be any meaningful affect on prices

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

No, I don't think there are, but if it's only on place for a singe season, then it's supposed to meet the aims of (can't remember) summer flowers?

Fine if you sow after harvest, maybe as part of an overwinter cover crop. I have put clovers in with wild bird mix and by the following spring they are well established.

 

[Huno]

I'm being a bit lazy here... so the DEFRA guidance doesn't mention 25% of a land parcel?

Can we pick your brain/experience? Think iirc you've mentioned before about grassweeds in legume fallow. Do you think the grass weed problem comes in year 1, year 2, or both?

My experience was it was worse in last summer of 2 year legume fallow, but maybe I didn't notice it in the first summer, and the black grass was actually there. We did get brome seeding in year 1. Next time I'll take the brome out with herbicides in either the autumn establishment period or early in the first spring.

Maybe I didn't mow it enough times in first summer? Or mow it close enough to the ground, although difficult with a rear mounted flail. Maybe just use the grass mower several times so get a lower cut?

Yea, the cap seems sensible (although for budgetary reasons rather than maintaining food production/security). I don't think NFU should use the food product/security reason as their reasoning. That's where their policy is wrong imho.

If farmers wish to max out on SFI field scale non-cropping options, then that reduces food production, which means price rises. We should be totally embracing that. Stewardship is less work, less ££ capital employed, less power and machinery needed, spreads workload, reduces risk, almost guaranteed payment and tightens food supply thus increases our prices.

If it increases our profit margins on the cropped areas, then it could end up being worth more to us than BPS. Fingers crossed

I will come back to you on this after Easter regarding NUM3 and the derivatives of AB15 as your observations are correct... the basics you are observing are that short term cash gains will result in longer term pain and that makes the NUM3 cash offer pretty poor for a cereal rotation over the whole rotation

 

[Huno]

No, I don't think there are, but if it's only on place for a singe season, then it's supposed to meet the aims of (can't remember) summer flowers?

Legume fallow is becoming a minefield with 3 separate prescriptions these days.. Old CS or new CS or SFI... remember that fallow means " out of production" not 5 cuts of silage!!!

 

[Huno]

I will come back to you on this after Easter regarding NUM3 and the derivatives of AB15 as your observations are correct... the basics you are observing are that short term cash gains will result in longer term pain and that makes the NUM3 cash offer pretty poor for a cereal rotation over the whole rotation

In the Interim avoid listening to DEFRA, Natural England,FWAG or any other so called Expert ( especially when they email or ring you at 8am on Easter Day!!) Focus on chocolate until tuesday

 

[Henarar]

Unlike you I struggle to see why they will not be overspent once farmers and agents really get going.

good job they brought in the cap to keep the money spread out

 

[Vader]

They are bringing in new options, hopefully these will help see the money go to a wider range of farmers to help them farm.

What they need to do is let people move from.cs to sfi if they want to.
Then it's a clear cut job, not trying to fit a few sfi round Cs.
Especially when some Cs shows up on sfi system and some don't.

 

[Henarar]

What they need to do is let people move from.cs to sfi if they want to.
Then it's a clear cut job, not trying to fit a few sfi round Cs.
Especially when some Cs shows up on sfi system and some don't.

Didn't know you couldn't, never done cs

 

[Case290]

I was thinking about swapping from cs but now sfi just changing all the rules without warning not so sure there any better.

 

[Vader]

I was thinking about swapping from cs but now sfi just changing all the rules without warning not so sure there any better.

Is your Cs not run out and you move you have to repay all the Cs.

 

[Steevo]

i reckon uncapped sfi would have ended up circa 25-30% anyway

poor land farms would have done big %’s in and productive soils would have done very little. - surely it’s better the unproductive land ends up out of production than the good stuff ? and surely it’s the lower productive land that need the subsidies not the good stuff ?

defra had it right …….. they have been lobbied by supply trade a s supermarkets ( via nfu it seems !)

Well said.

It's also a distraction from the real issues facing UK agriculture.

DEFRA (and the supply trade) have noticed what it happening, judged it and jumped on it.

Had DEFRA stopped and asked "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?" they might have reached a more helpful outcome.

 

[som farmer]

Well said.

It's also a distraction from the real issues facing UK agriculture.

DEFRA (and the supply trade) have noticed what it happening, judged it and jumped on it.

Had DEFRA stopped and asked "WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?" they might have reached a more helpful outcome.

the supply trade don't want to lose their golden goose, they like to think we will just keep on producing the same. I hope they have a fecking great shock, most of them are parasites, earn more than we do, for a fraction of the hours we work.

the whole problem with farming is simple, our prices are still somewhere back in the last century, because successive guvs have been desperate to keep a lid on food costs.

policy has worked very well, supply trade have upped prices with inflation, or more, expected us to cough up, while our prices don't move, thinking that may just have come to an end, its run out of steam.

the only reason we have temporary increases in prices, is when product becomes short, then prices shoot up, encourage us to produce more, when we do, down they go again.

the really silly part, we fall for it, time after time after time. We just don't learn.

 

[carbonfibre farmer]

I miss Tim's comments @7610 super q .
He'd have had something to say about all of this

 

[Barleymow]

Underspending as been due to slow roll out of SFI. Had a pilot and 2022 scheme which they’ve now cancelled.
Torys did make a manifesto commitment to maintain Ag budget at same level until 2024. Therefore they politically had to roll those funds forward into this year or would be berated by Ag in an election year.
3 rounds of productivity grants this year to help clear the underspend. Delinked BPS payments this year further reduced So maybe bigger underspend!
It was NFU and TFA asking for the BPS reductions to be deferred until new ELM schemes were in place and working!

NFU claims have been fanciful for years.

Urea, pesticide tax, red diesel glyphosate etc. all claim to have been saved by NFU and them alone.

In fact the truth is many others had input and often the best decision was reached in spite of the NFU not because of them.

DEFRA capped SFI to try control thier budget, no one influenced that decision in my opinion.

If they had listened before perhaps the cap could have been avoided if they had listened now the cap could be better.
They do not seem to take advise from anyone and I find the NFU claims at best decitfull.

They were successful at getting the electricity wayleaves payments reduced