paulthefarm
Member
Does anyone have a simple programme that allows any farmer to input his or her circumstances and it spits out suggested actions for highest financial return per hectacre without loss of farmed land or live stock?
SFI - Highest return rate for least cost / least effort input?
- Thread starter paulthefarm
- Start date
Haven't the bureaucrats designed the scheme to ensure you need pay a consultant for their services?
After all, it's not about improving wildlife biodiversity and supporting agriculture, it's about ensuring paper pushers continue contributing to their pension pot
- Location
- Northumberlandia
Seems as thats pretty hard task ive looked at it & altho some options look to gain me some of the lost BPS it isnt without some hassle.
Its bad enough sorting claims out on capital works with the RPA & mind they can be propper F@&*ys
Its bad enough sorting claims out on capital works with the RPA & mind they can be propper F@&*ys
- Location
- Lincolnshire
The management plans are money for nothing.
yes it is in my head... computer says... dont engage whilst offer is so poor... trust me... this brain has smashed the maths an aweful lot but no one wants to listen! cool thread title!!
yellow belly
Member
- Location
- south west lincolnshire
We all do this management just now need to formalise it
bps used to cover cross compliance amongst other things
- Location
- Northumberlandia
The likes of NUM1 SAM1 & IPM1 yes i agree there but its no fortune
- Location
- Northumberlandia
oh & that IPM4 is surely a no brainer. thats decent money apart from leaving OSR off the claim
peanuts thrown to monkeys comes to mind?
Downtrodden Dad
Member
- Location
- Cumbria
I think there are 2 schools of thought with the pathetic offerings. If we don’t apply the powers that be will think we don’t need support, or on our side of the fence it won’t touch the sides and isn’t enough. I’ve a feeling the former will be gone for and future money will go towards NHS train drivers and others that will help votes
Easy. If it is worth many thousands of pounds to your business, don't spend the money on consultants. Instead, do the work yourself & spend the time working out how to follow the process.
I never understood why farmers hired agents to do their BPS/SPS/IACS forms. It was the highest paying job on the farm in terms of £/hour.
There are so many sources of good information available for free now, why not just do it yourself?
"spend the time"
"follow the process"
Really?
These schemes have been designed with deliberation to ensure the application process is complicated. The knowledge of which combination of options generates the best likelihood of success is a closely guarded secret, and varies between assessing rural payments "officers"
Farm subsidies have always supported processors and retailers, not the primary producers. In this post brexit era, consultancies and civil servants know that if their livelihoods are to continue, subsidies must also now generate ever more work for them. Hence the ever more convoluted, time consuming, totally opaque application, assessment and inspection processes they produce
Anyone who thinks otherwise is even more deluded than voters who think electric cars and culling cow farts will save the planet
tullah
Member
- Location
- Linconshire
My hard drive up top is now so chock a block full of crap there's just no room to absorb any more of this stuff without busting it. I'm leaving it to an agent
Hindsight
Member
- Location
- Lincolnshire
But as SFI is in effect a Stewardship Scheme an agent can assist with suggestions as to suitable options and also assist with completing the application process but the SFI scheme itself (like all Stewardship Schemes) requires 'ownership' and total 'involvement' from the farmer. For example, how can an agent know what percentage of your farm to enter into no insecticide or overwinter cover without you being totally involved deciding how these two options will fit you farm rotational and agronomic future plans. I have assisted farmers with Stewardship applications and in my experience take considerable time to ensure farmer gets what is appropriate and required. And why most land agents do not get involved as the hourly charge rate is insufficient for them. Or they use junior or non ARICS / FRICS staff who have lower (much lower) charge out rates.
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serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
What a brilliant idea , but that would make the job far to simple and that is obviously not what the gov wants ...
it’s not difficult to work out anyway
nothing complex about sfi when you actually go through application and handbook
serf
Member
- Location
- warwickshire
Well I think the OP is spot on when he says you want some calculator you can just put what you have at min into it and it throws you some examples of what you could do and values ,
maybe easy to you who is always onto this kind of stuff but to Ur average serf like moi it just puts you off from the offset ....
the application does exactly this. - you select options and it calculates what you will get, it doesn’t let you stack options you can’t - it has all your eligible areas etc
its REALLY easy, if you can post on a forum you can do it
- Location
- North Kent, UK
You may find this hard to believe, but I’m actually looking forward to getting stuck into my Sfi application!
On the other hand, if you asked me to take the injectors out of an engine I wouldn’t know where they even were!
What I’m saying is that we all have our strengths and weaknesses in this business.
I don’t need an agent for this job but really on paying mechanics instead.
Depends I suppose on your own attitude.
We employ an agent. 3 years ago submitted a CS agreement and filled out the simple BPS form worth about 70k and it cost me £450 I think. Subsequent years about £300
Last year I didn't receive my CS payment by May/June so I rang her and she sorted it.
As a 500 acre mixed farmer with no staff I have other things to do with my time both physically and more importantly mentally.
However, I will be looking to do the bulk of the SFI application when time allows.