- Location
- East yorks
100% our position, if all we can get to is £50 a hectare then it’s not worth the hassle when it’s just a £10 swing on all our cereals to make the same amount, Better off putting Sfi time into doing better marketingThe proposed grassland payments were particularly derisory iirc. To get a medium or higher amount of payment, I didn't think the payments compensated sufficiently for the reduced productivity.
Grassland SFI seemed even worse than the arable SFI (which isn't very good in the first place).
I'm currently undecided if I'll enter the introductory arable soils SFI. Can't decide if to go for it and get what we get, but of we get a payment reduction for not quite complying correctly - then hey ho. Or just don't bother, but concentrate my effort on something more worthy of my effort.
Sadly, I suspect some smaller farms will decide it isn't worth the bother/hassle, but larger farms will think it's worth the hassle because the payment rates can be multiplied by x,000 acres. Don't mean to take anything at all way from the successful hard work of someone who's grown to be a large farm, but the chap with 100 acres just might not bother with SFI payment rates x 100 acres.
Really, non of us should sign up. I'd say leave them with egg on their face. Let's face it, it's not going to coat us ALL THAT MUCH CASH to not send our forms in. Someone ought to really start a boycot SFI campaign.
I think HMG is going to use the SFI OM addition as part of its carbon sequestration and reduction commitments.
Edit. And the grassland payments really are pants.