Sustainable Farming Incentive: how the scheme will work in 2022

Sustainable farming incentive details published today 2 December 2021

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Another one for @Janet Hughes Defra when she gets back to her keyboard.

I’ve asked this of many layers of administration, but few gave a clear answer. Public money for public good. That is currently airbrushed for organic matter in soils etc. But does membership of these schemes also mean public access to the land involved?
No, there are no conditions attached to the scheme with regard to public access - you'll still have to follow the law on such matters, of course, but there are no extra requirements through SFI
 
@Janet Hughes Defra
why does the scheme penalize those with small fields ?
I thought this was an environmental scheme, do you not think hedges are good for the environment ?
Our whole farm would fit in one field in some places, they would need one test we would need 25 for the same area why is this ?
We won't require soil organic matter testing in every parcel - we will issue guidance about how to get a good spread of testing across the area of land entered into the scheme.
 
I'm not really following all this because I have no intention of going within a million miles of it, but surely if you are testing soil you have to take samples on an acreage basis (ie one sample per x acres, where x is going to be no greater than 1) so a 100 acre field needs the same number of samples as 100 one acre fields? Surely no-one is going to take one sample per field regardless of size? So the testing cost will largely be a multiple of your acreage, not the number of fields you have?
Yes that is correct, the testing will be based on x samples per hectare, not every parcel
 
it penalises us because we already fit the criteria they are after , small species rich fields , loads of hedges , trees/ scrub minimal fert , job done , all the big arable outfits with no hedgerows and mined soils with plenty of chem use are the ones needed to change ,and they usually have the time to influence DEFRA decisions though land agents , advisors , (that cholderton video most of which we already do for free ;) )
they wont get to 70% without us though
Small farms like yours should be well-placed to come into SFI - we'll pay you to maintain those assets and practices. We'll be adding in standards on nutrient management, hedgerows, low and no input grassland and others that sound like they'd be relevant to you, between now and 2025.
 

Swarfmonkey

Member
Location
Hampshire
Here's a question for @Janet Hughes Defra

Are the terms and conditions for the full roll out of SFI going to be the same as they were for the pilot scheme, where you expect farmers to sign up to a binding agreement that gives DEFRA the right to change whatever it wants in an agreement, whenever it wants to? 'Cos frankly, that's going to put a hell of a lot of people off the idea.


To quote:

The Authority reserves the right to vary these Terms and Conditions or any other part of the Agreement at any time. Any variation will be effected in writing and notified to the Agreement Holder in advance. The Authority shall endeavour to give such notice as is reasonable and proportionate, having regard to the nature of the variation and its consequences for the Agreement Holder.
 
so the SFI is aimed at big farmers with big fields and the other two strands of ELMS is aimed at big land owning non farmers.
isn't it nice to feel valued and rewarded for environmentally doing the right thing by a scheme that is meant to reward you for doing the right thing. gives you that warm fuzzy feeling. :rolleyes:
The scheme is aimed at all types of farm, and there's no disadvantage to small fields or small farms - the soil sampling will be on a per hectare basis, not a per field basis
 
Does the grassland soils standard apply to all grasslands including low and no-input permanent pasture?
No, there will be a separate standard for low and no input permanent pasture - that's because the actions required are quite different. Meanwhile we continue to offer options for permanent pasture through CS, and we will be publishing updated payment rates for those in the new year.
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
That's not right - the testing will be on a per hectare basis, not a per parcel basis - we'll set this out in guidance before the scheme launches
A Hectare is 100m by 100m and therefore gives you 10,000 metres of space to play with on google earth! Such fun when you join the circular economy and design round fields in the middle of your square arable fields just to see how complex you can design a scheme!!
 
@Janet Hughes Defra but why can't the SFI value permanent pasture NOW? It is probable the single most feature of our national landscape that achieves ALL of DEFRAs goals for soil quality, flood mitigation, food production, biodiversity, public amenities and rural social structure.
if PP was valued correctly at, say, £150/ha then your targets would be met overnight and still within budget.
We will be introducing a standard for low and no input grassland, along with other standards covering a range of other things, between now and 2025 - for now we continue to have options in CS, and we'll be publishing updated payment rates for those in the new year.
 
Higher ambition...?
So your saying we must be farming REALLY bad then if there room to do lots if improvements in your eyes...
We don't think that at all, but we do think there is a lot of potential for farms to do more for nature and the climate, alongside food production and we want to pay farmers to do that.

We want to give farmers who are new to agri-environment schemes the option of joining SFI with some of their land at the lower levels of ambition, and then see how it goes and, if they want to, increase their level of ambition and amount of land after a year or two. We know from our engagement with farmers that this is the sort of incremental route many would prefer to take when adopting new practices.
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
A Hectare is 100m by 100m and therefore gives you 10,000 metres of space to play with on google earth! Such fun when you join the circular economy and design round fields in the middle of your square arable fields just to see how complex you can design a scheme!!
The real debate is do i fill the circle with trees and plant livestock grazing around the perimeters or vis versa.. any thoughts folks?
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
Private industry will pay for climate mitigation and Gov will pay to keep control of UK food?? Discuss??
 
@Janet Hughes Defra
Could you give some clarification to the OM soil tests.
what is the intended use from the results .
Will farmers be penalised if they are below a certain level, or drop from one year to the next.
Is there a national base to work from.
I’m trying to understand the point of them in isolation .?
The point is to give farmers information about the health of your soil that you don't get from the tests you're required to do under farming rules for water (although you can do these tests alongside those, and some farmers already do that). This is so that you can decide what to do about it. The actions in the standard should increase your SOM over time, but we won't be using that information to check on you or use the results to deduct money. If they don't rise over time, that might give you useful information to decide what other action to take.
 

delilah

Member
If you did create payments and penalties it would create a lot of problems for any farmer changing lays, ploughing old grassland, taking straw, chopping straw etc.

The decision process would be then put into bureacratic hands who would tie a farmers hands to a process.

In other words what you want is not viable - unless you were running a conservation site not a farm.

100%.
I wasn't saying I want it (payments tied to som %), rather I was suggesting there's no 'public good' in hundreds of thousands of soil samples flying around the country for no discernible reason.
 

Huno

Member
Arable Farmer
We will be introducing a standard for low and no input grassland, along with other standards covering a range of other things, between now and 2025 - for now we continue to have options in CS, and we'll be publishing updated payment rates for those in the new year.
Can you publish them next week please????? We are makind management decisions Now!!!!
 
Hi Janet,thanks for updating us, it is appreciated despite huge concerns.
QUESTION.if you join the improved grassland intermediate SFI,is it correct you have to have a soil test/ SOM for every single field, rather than spread over the whole farm area.?
If this is correct those with many small fields surrounded by hedges and tree shelter belts will be heavily penalised against a single 100 hectare field of mono culture?,so the incentive will be to not plant hedges and if allowed remove them and trees,which is crazy.
Surely permanent grass surrounded by hedges and trees is already a huge carbon sink ,grass almost on a par with trees,and deserves rewarding far more than an arable area.
I guess you need to rethink if you want grass farmers to join SFI
No, the tests will be per hectare, not per field
 
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SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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