SFI Options and Grassweeds

[Hindsight]

I think they are talking quite a lot of sense ref unintended consequences

I concur with your comment.

Personally I find the intention to use AHL2 following a Winter Barley crop (or Wheat if I am correct) and then followed by AHL1 in following Spring with WInter Wheat in the Autumn after not quite what I assume Defra expected, assuming of course Defra had any expectations at all, or was simply waiting to see how farmers adopted the new scheme.

But we are where we are with farmers using the AHL1 and NUM3 options as a paid short term fallow. Grassweeds may become an issue. So, as we are where we are then it will be interesting to see how the seed suppliers play this game with the seeds mixtures supplied.

Hey ho, all good fun.

 

[Clive]

Milk quota with a marketable value was the biggest handout ever given
in the history of modern farming in the UK.Most of the EU it wasn't tradeable for monetary benefit.

you could only sell it when you not longer needed it however so it didn't subsidise production at the time

It was another factor in my fathers decision to give up milking as well as it limited any plan to expand to become more efficient - borrowing money to buy the right to produce more milk made no sense

oh ........... and when we sold it after stopping milking one of our landlords decided it was actually his and wouldn't release it until his cut was paid so we didn't really benefit from that either as farmers

 

[lloyd]

you could only sell it when you not longer needed it however so it didn't subsidise production at the time

It was another factor in my fathers decision to give up milking as well as it limited any plan to expand to become more efficient - borrowing money to buy the right to produce more milk made no sense

oh ........... and when we sold it after stopping milking one of our landlords decided it was actually his and wouldn't release it until his cut was paid so we didn't really benefit from that either as farmers

Although it wasn't an annual subsidy it distorted the free market value of milk
by restricting the number of dairy farmers.By putting a tradeable value on it
young farmers of the time were priced out of the opportunity and a generation disadvantaged.
I have no idea of how you fared regarding asset value of milk quota but as an example
a near by ex dairy farmer sold his milk quota at 80ppl and bought 200 acres at £3k an acre .
He would have doubled his owned acreage from a government gift that wouldn't have been possible
in most of the EU.In my view subsidies come in many guises.

 

[Clive]

Although it wasn't an annual subsidy it distorted the free market value of milk
by restricting the number of dairy farmers.By putting a tradeable value on it
young farmers of the time were priced out of the opportunity and a generation disadvantaged.
I have no idea of how you fared regarding asset value of milk quota but as an example
a near by ex dairy farmer sold his milk quota at 80ppl and bought 200 acres at £3k an acre .
He would have doubled his owned acreage from a government gift that wouldn't have been possible
in most of the EU.In my view subsidies come in many guises.

it was just another hand out for landowners - as i said ours mostly went to a landlord when we stopped milking

 

[chaffcutter]

…..and CGT as it was a capital gain with no acquisition value!

 

[farmerm]

My problem is that I don't trust that these seed mixes won't contain blackgrass seeds. I bought some for a strip of land (not in a scheme) from a 'reputable' merchant, it came thick with blackgrass.
The last thing I need is blackgrass on a currently clean farm. Worries me far more than not taking up SFI for the money!

it is a worry... friend had some difficult ryegrass arrive in a stewardship mix which he has been battling with for 20 years

 

[farmerm]

Andrew Ward speaking about SFI with Jim Egan of Kings from a week ago. 2 minutes to 8 minutes of the video.

Some interesting comments and observations on SFI. Quite negative, I thought, about using NUM3 (and presumably AHL1) as many are as a paid short Summer fallow for April - August 31. Listen and draw your own conclusion but Jim Egan seems to say this is not going to work as will fail to meet the aims of providing flowers during the SUmmer months. I do worry that industry leaders such as Jim Egan and other seeds suppliers will have the ear of our friends at Defra. If you listen through the full six minute interview there are a few other comments where the view of Mr Ward and Mr Egan deviates from views on threads on TFF. No doubt we shall find out. But am concerned a high profile You Tube commentator has a different view. I am also always conscious Kings is part of Frontier Agriculture whose main business involves selling inputs for crop production and purchasing and marketing the output of production.

Comments welcome - especially if you take an alternative view of the interview.

When I applied, based on historic weather patterns, I had a fair and reasonable expectation for there being a suitable drilling window to achieve the late spring/summer flowering aim... I would perhaps struggle to justify having such confidence in expectation if applying right now knowing the current state of ground conditions and weather forecast... I think that is the point Jim Egan is making rather than saying spring drilled AHL1 can never be expected to achieve the aims. Around half my AHL1 is destined to stay in the ground next spring summer so that is less of a concern for me even if it fails to flower this spring. The short term AHL1 I had intended to have in the ground now though, if I go at the earliest opportunity, even if that is May... well... Question is, at what moment in time when does one need to have reasonable expectations? When one is planning or when one is drilling? It is surely better for everyone (and the bees) if it gets drilled with AHL1 a bit late than left in furrows until Autumn....