SFI - Self Help and Tips

[Huno]

my top tip is to be very sensible and careful about what you want to contract into... if it is for you then great.. if it is not for you or you need more time then wait?

 

[L P]

my top tip is to be very sensible and careful about what you want to contract into... if it is for you then great.. if it is not for you or you need more time then wait?

Thanks Huno, that is the one bit of SFI that appears to be very refreshing, that you can add or subtract land. The ability to be fluid if it doesn't work as planned does make a big difference in our system. You dont have must tick boxes to be eligible unlike mid tier which really excluded us

 

[beef 1]

I want to add land parcels to my holding , but there does not seem to be a transfer land option , which im sure was there before , is there a closed period or am i missing something ?

 

[Shropshire Farmer]

Well this is getting a little tedious. Have received hefer which shows shine on multiple parcels of land. I emailed Historic England to see if it was possible to use NUM3 and SAM3 on those parcels. however is seems that due to HS9 option I am restricted from using these SFI options. The SFI seems to be prohibitive in a number of ways if you are already in a CS agreement.

 

[farmerm]

The soil testing firm I used last year told me they where busy and they took several months with chasing up this year 10 days.

The soil sampling firm or the soil testing lab... Shortage of capacity in the first isn't too big a problem, anyone can walk a W and collect some soil cores for OM testing.

 

[farmerm]

Weve been soil testing for ever unfortunately not often included som. However have usually followed the recommedations which has influenced where we have spread muck ,chopped straw, altered rotation , introduced a catch crop or the golden hoof on autumn sown feed and more recently applied digestate/sludge etc all in a bid to increase yields and as a side effect som which im sure it has . A thought has just occured to me. Why in the sfi isnt there a payment for actively trying to increase/maintain som by muck and other methods which work better and faster than anything currently in the sfi which it seems they want us to do and help diversity both in farming practices and wildlife

Where is extra muck going to come from? There is pressure towards us all having fewer livestock and producing less muck

 

[farmerm]

I wasnt aware of that , shame its not there and that other folk have influenced defra wrongly in my view but as they say a farmers worst problem is his neighbour cos I could see it helping grass farmers as much if not more than arable

There was much in that previous version that was simply unworkable, it was right to bin it.

 

[Hindsight]

The soil sampling firm or the soil testing lab... Shortage of capacity in the first isn't too big a problem, anyone can walk a W and collect some soil cores for OM testing.

Don't even need to walk a W. Just take a spade into the garden. Dig a spit into a bucket. Split bucket of soil required number of times to get a sample for each field. Take to laboratory. Receive OM results a few days later for each field documented in a piece of paper. Place paper in a folder. Everyone happy. Amusing how we all find negatives if we really do not want to comply. Hey ho.

 

[farmerm]

is NUM3 sown in March , ripped up and sow wheat end of september , application going in next week
Is this a goer ?

"This action’s aim is that there’s a legume fallow that produces areas of flowering plants from late spring and during the summer months."

Advantage of March sown over Autumn sowing? Weed chit and frost tilth? I've some ground I ploughed yesterday on which March sown NUM3 is now looking like the least worst option...

 

[farmerm]

Don't even need to walk a W. Just take a spade into the garden. Dig a spit into a bucket. Split bucket of soil required number of times to get a sample for each field. Take to laboratory. Receive OM results a few days later for each field documented in a piece of paper. Place paper in a folder. Everyone happy. Amusing how we all find negatives if we really do not want to comply. Hey ho.

Might be easy digging but I would suggest finding a less good bit of the farm, in fact the most barren bit of soil there is.. Garden OM might be a bit higher than you want to start with.. who knows, with a baseline set, one could get charged a carbon tax for soil OM losses later down the line....

 

[Hindsight]

Might be easy digging but I would suggest finding a less good bit of the farm, in fact the most barren bit of soil there is.. Garden OM might be a bit higher than you want to start with.. who knows, with a baseline set, one could get charged a carbon tax for soil OM losses later down the line....

I have some very low OM soil I can supply for a small sum! Until we know the rules of engagement is it best to have low OM set of results or a high set of OM results for your fields. Or a set of both in separate folders to be presented to 'whomever it concerns' Just asking?

 

[Treg]

The soil sampling firm or the soil testing lab... Shortage of capacity in the first isn't too big a problem, anyone can walk a W and collect some soil cores for OM testing.

The lab.

 

[Hindsight]

The lab.

But there is 12 months or more to get the data.

 

[ploughman1963]

Where is extra muck going to come from? There is pressure towards us all having fewer livestock and producing less muck

and Natural England having a policy of actively discouraging movement of manures. I applied for CSFO approval for a muck store cover and was refused as it was being used for imported manure rather than manure produced on the farm. The irony is that it wont discourage me from importing manure just that the risk of run-off from muck piles is higher. Arguments we put forward about it replacing the use of manufactured fertilisers with a much higher carbon footprint were ignored

 

[Hindsight]

and Natural England having a policy of actively discouraging movement of manures. I applied for CSFO for a muck store cover and was refused as it was being used for imported manure rather than manure produced on the farm. The irony is that it wont discourage me from importing manure just that the risk of run-off from muck piles is higher. Arguments we put forward about it replacing the use of manufactured fertilisers with a much higher carbon footprint were ignored

Yet poultry manure in Wye catchment is now under controls to get it exported from the area.

 

[Treg]

But there is 12 months or more to get the data.

Yes , there's no panic .
Did my soil test last November got the results March , so easily within the 12 months.

 

[ploughman1963]

Yet poultry manure in Wye catchment is now under controls to get it exported from the area.

but Natural England have a declared policy of discouraging it - if they back an application for a roof then they are encouraging it apparently - I am told there is in-fighting between EA and Natural England over this at the moment

 

[farmerm]

The aim says areas flowering from late Spring. Will you have flowers for an inspectors visit in shall we say late May from a March sowing? I don’t know by the way. How many flowers and what flowers too I do not know. As Clive says have you met the Aims?

Actually it is not if you have met the aims but if your way could "reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim" Who makes up the jury on what is reasonable?

If in an average year you have land that will drill in March and can find a mix of 6 species that come to flower inside 6 weeks, including at least 1 legume, then I would think it reasonable...

so if challenged can you demonstrate
a) how you have a reasonable expectation to be able to drill in March
b) that you have selected a suitably quick to flower mix

 

[farmerm]

you need summer flowers I think for ALH2 aims so would have to drill flowering AHL2 species in march not NUM3. - plus I don't think you can stack num3 on ahl2 ?


AHL2 is the best paying break alternative as long as you can get seeds by winter and don't mind drilling again in spring for the pollinator bit (and the cost of that x2 lots of seed and drilling In guess) NUM3 isn't far behind however when you consider that seed cost and the time constraints some will have to achieve aims

"This action’s aim is that there are areas of winter bird food that produce a supply of small seeds for smaller farmland birds from late autumn until late winter."

The purpose of this is to:

• provide food resources for farmland birds, especially in late autumn and winter
• encourage flowering plants in the summer, which will benefit insects including bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies
• support an IPM approach if located close to cropped areas"

Now my understanding is only that we have to undertake reasonable efforts to achieve the aim... of course, who is to say that version 4 will not include summer flowering plants as part of the aim but as per the wording of the current V3 handbook, surely any "purpose" is none binding?

 

[Mixedupfarmer]

"This action’s aim is that there are areas of winter bird food that produce a supply of small seeds for smaller farmland birds from late autumn until late winter."

The purpose of this is to:

• provide food resources for farmland birds, especially in late autumn and winter
• encourage flowering plants in the summer, which will benefit insects including bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies
• support an IPM approach if located close to cropped areas"

Now my understanding is only that we have to undertake reasonable efforts to achieve the aim... of course, who is to say that version 4 will not include summer flowering plants as part of the aim but as per the wording of the current V3 handbook, surely any "purpose" is none binding?

The rate at which the goalposts keep moving is a concern