SFI Select Committee

[Scholsey]

Have managed to get mid tier with very few rotational options, SFI with SAM3 and winter cover crops and BPS to over £200/acre/year on a 5 year grass/maize rotation. Seems a lot of people moaning and doing nothing about it rather than just sorting it out.

 

[DrWazzock]

The enclosures act and land clearances of 1773 under George 3rd was the last time that that this behaviour occured if you read history... the outcome was profit and productivity increased in Agriculture but it left poorer farmers (upland and tenants?)without the resources to grow their crops and feed their animals. It also fundamentally changed Englands society and economic system....
This is now happening in 2023... discuss??

It’s the steady March towards corporatism not just in farming but all other businesses. This is required by the state so that the state can exert ever more control as it simply doesn’t trust its own citizens. The result will be the kind of system that prevailed towards the end of the Soviet Union. We will all just work for some large corporation. Nobody will really give one and we will have lost the agility, the motivation and the risk takers and can-do attitude that keeps the job running. Instead everything will be mired in endless analysis and risk assessment. Very little productive work will get done. You can see it with HS2. You can see it with rewilding and enviro schemes, with carbon trading and all the other money for old rope dead duck loss making schemes that consume not generate taxes and rob public services. But it seems somehow unstoppable and inevitable.

 

[DaveGrohl]

HaHa... if you pour enough concrete in the river then you can change the effect!! Like i said there is a general election next year and who ever takes the reins couldnt do a worse job than the current lot so i am filled with hope and positivity for 2024 and will never vote Tory again!!

Do you believe that? I don’t, not by a long chalk.

Granted, this lot are pushing the country off a cliff but there’s a long way down to go before we hit the bottom. Somebody mentioned the bad times brings strong men saying the other day. We’re currently in the weak men produce bad times phase.

 

[DrWazzock]

Create and maintain herbal leys – Farming

Updates from Defra's Farming and Countryside Programme

defrafarming.blog.gov.uk

I read this blog with interest. It states that we do not have to follow the advice to get paid. And I certainly wouldn’t be letting growth get to 0.5 to 1.0 metres high before grazing after a rest period. Nowhere can I find inspection criteria that states what I will actually be paid for.
The “public goods” that the taxpayers are paying for seem to be anything or nothing. We seem to be being paid just for “attempting” things. Do suppliers of battleships and NHS services etc get paid for nearly but not quite delivering? Until inspection criteria are published I won’t be spending anything on these schemes only for it to be clawed back by some bobble hatted inspector 6 months before the 3 year contract ends after 3 years of less than optimum productivity.

 

[DaveGrohl]

We applied on 16th October and had been expecting an email with offer. Thought I would check progress on RPA portal after reading this thread, and offer there and now accepted.
We are small grass and arable farm and SFI will be more than BPS ever was. We were already growing herbal leys so SFI suited us well.

What were the main options you went for if you don't mind me asking?

 

[ISCO]

What were the main options you went for if you don't mind me asking?

GS3 Herbal leys which we were growing anyway and Num 2 legumes on improved grass were the main ones. Additionally we did 2 hedgerow options but not in hedge trees and all of the plans that are optional.

The only notable expenditure to comply will be 30 acres of GS3 after winter barley. Given we would have sown this in any event we may as well have the money from SFI.

 

[E_B]

GS3 Herbal leys which we were growing anyway and Num 2 legumes on improved grass were the main ones. Additionally we did 2 hedgerow options but not in hedge trees and all of the plans that are optional.

The only notable expenditure to comply will be 30 acres of GS3 after winter barley. Given we would have sown this in any event we may as well have the money from SFI.

GS3 is the only thing that is worth the time for livestock farmers, IMO, if you have enough land to spare after June. The majority of our potential scheme in a couple years would be made up of this. GS4 is okay and a no brainer if you are already utilising herbal leys but if not then establishment can be unreliable, and expensive.

 

[ollie989898]

Have managed to get mid tier with very few rotational options, SFI with SAM3 and winter cover crops and BPS to over £200/acre/year on a 5 year grass/maize rotation. Seems a lot of people moaning and doing nothing about it rather than just sorting it out.

It all sounds great.

Right up until you work your way through the AJCC thread... Fall out with them and they'll be coming after you years after any agreement has concluded.

 

[Scholsey]

It all sounds great.

Right up until you work your way through the AJCC thread... Fall out with them and they'll be coming after you years after any agreement has concluded.

How many people has that happened to compared to those that it hasnt? SFI just sounds like a easy way to give farmers what was BPS money without rewarding land pirates who are just spudding/maizing/pilaging ground to death. How it will work for contract farming/short term rents i'm not sure as you can be sure the landlords/agents will still want their several pounds of flesh.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

I am one of the 577, but cannot see much that is worth claiming for.
600 acres in CS is not eligible for anything.
Should I put all the rest into Herbal Leys (already have some) but I don't want to plant until next Autumn. So can I say that is what I am going to do and take the money now?

Too many questions and no answers!!

 

[Huno]

I am one of the 577, but cannot see much that is worth claiming for.
600 acres in CS is not eligible for anything.
Should I put all the rest into Herbal Leys (already have some) but I don't want to plant until next Autumn. So can I say that is what I am going to do and take the money now?

Too many questions and no answers!!

totally respectful view because the civil service are trying to make us dig our own graves and be totally responsible for any poor decisions.. i will not sign up to that mantra..

 

[bobk]

totally respectful view because the civil service are trying to make us dig our own graves and be totally responsible for any poor decisions.. i will not sign up to that mantra..

The needle's stuck , and the noise is getting on my tits