Sustainable farming incentive - handbook for 2023 has been published

[Janet Hughes Defra]

Afternoon all,

Today we've published a handbook containing all the detailed information about the sustainable farming incentive offer for this year.

The handbook is here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sfi-handbook-for-the-sfi-2023-offer

An overview blogpost is here: https://defrafarming.blog.gov.uk/2023/06/21/sfi-more-ways-to-enhance-your-income-productivity-and-the-environment/

The handbook sets out all the detailed actions, rules and requirements of the scheme, in a single handbook that you can download and print (because this is what many of you have asked us to do, rather than spreading the information across multiple pages on GOV.UK).

We have made some changes to the scheme in response to feedback from you and other farmers and through our pilot and early rollout of the scheme. In particular, we have made a much broader range of options available, made the scheme more flexible so you can pick the individual actions you want to do rather than having to do them in set combinations or percentages of land entered into the scheme.

Finally, I know I have not been present on the forum in the consistent, ongoing way many of you would like. I understand why that has been frustrating and annoying, and I am really sorry about that. I have found that am just not able to personally engage on every thread on an ongoing basis, I'm afraid. However I do really want to find a way of addressing your questions and hearing your feedback all the time, not just when we publish new information, so I am working with @Clive to put in place a better, ongoing, sustainable way of managing this so that you can ask questions of me and my team and give us feedback when they arise. We will let you know where we get to with that as soon as possible.

For this particular thread, I am planning to be online at least daily, for the next week, to answer your questions about the information we've published today. I have posted this as a question with voting, and if you could upvote questions that you particularly want me to address it would be helpful if you could vote for them so that I can prioritise my time and attention, and I will then do my best to work through as many of them as I possibly can. I hope this is helpful and look forward to your questions.

If you have questions about your specific farm situation, the best thing to do is contact the RPA contact centre and they will be able to point you in the right direction.

Thank you.

 

[Clive]

Thank -you Janet - your direct engagement is hugely appreciated

Hopefully we can find ways to make a more constant dialogue between your team at DEFRA and TFF's farmers in the future It's a big job on such a busy website, no way any single individual can manage that alone IMO ........ not that you have a lot of other stuff to do as well i'm sure !

 

[Exmoor Farm]

Hi Janet, I'm making my way through the handbook now so will probably have a few questions over the afternoon.

Regarding IPM4 - No use of insecticide

1. Have you considered making IPM4 available to grassland? This simple tweak would encourage less routine worming of livestock (with drugs like Ivermectin) which would have a hugely beneficial impact on wildlife particularly dung beetles and their predators (birds and bats).

2. On a previous Farming Forum thread, you confirmed that the No Use of Insecticide payment would be available to organic arable farmers. However the action is not available with CSS OP4 - Multi Species Ley - presumably because OP4 is considered temporary grassland? The OP4 payment of £115/ha is already a lot less than the conventional GS4 equivalent of £382/ha and allowing IPM4 alongside OP4 would help make up this (in my opinion) unfair difference.

 

[Two Tone]

@Janet Hughes Defra :

Please can we ALL have a PROPER PAPER HANDBOOK rather that a very frustrating online version !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything shown as a ‘green link’ is the biggest TURN OFF there could ever be!
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A HANDBOOK!

 

[Two Tone]

@Janet Hughes Defra :

Please can we ALL have a PROPER PAPER HANDBOOK rather that a very frustrating online version !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything shown as a ‘green link’ is the biggest TURN OFF there could ever be!
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A HANDBOOK!

PS:
Preferably one that could actually fit in ‘A’ hand, rather than two, too!

 

[Clive]

@Janet Hughes Defra :

Please can we ALL have a PROPER PAPER HANDBOOK rather that a very frustrating online version !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything shown as a ‘green link’ is the biggest TURN OFF there could ever be!
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A HANDBOOK!

it is printable but i recommend setting printer for double sided as its a lot of paper !

 

[E_B]

@Janet Hughes Defra sooooo, is there no payment for reduced cultivations, as suggested in previous literature, and included in the pilot?

 

[Two Tone]

it is printable but i recommend setting printer for double sided as its a lot of paper !

It is simply deplorable!

Does anybody honestly believe that if William Shakespeare published any of his plays as a ‘Green link’ online that many if any of us would have ever have heard of him?

GIVE US A PAPER VERSION as you requested and @Janet Hughes Defra was clearly observed nodding in agreement to at Cereals!


Or is it that Defra daren’t because things change so fast that it’d be obsolete in no time at all?

 

[Clive]

Or is it that Defra daren’t because things change so fast that it’d be obsolete in no time at all?

I think thats the nail on the head but think about it - it's not a good idea having outdated version on farm as someone could not realise there is an update and get things wrong as a result


printed versions will be much easier when the scheme has settled and just has annual changes I guess

 

[Ceri]

I’m just absolutely astonished that defra are pressing ahead with this in the current climate. The fallout from covid & the war in Ukraine leading to hyper inflation, Interest rates rising, super volatile markets etc etc……. Never was there a time more crucial that bps was needed at full rate until things settle down but instead they’re ploughing ahead with this nightmare scheme that no one can really get there heads round…… When this all goes belly up I really do hope people like @Janet Hughes Defra are held accountable for the millions of pounds wasted producing a scheme that no one takes up.
Tough times ahead with a lot of damage to the ag sector, supply chains & the environment to come which could and should have been completely avoidable.
This Tory government…………………Words just fail me.

 

[Two Tone]

I think thats the nail on the head but think about it - it's not a good idea having outdated version on farm as someone could not realise there is an update and get things wrong as a result


printed versions will be much easier when the scheme has settled and just has annual changes I guess

Precisely my reasoning!

Make them do a compulsory to all farmers and land manager printed version OF ALL 156 PAGES so that they can neither keep changing it OR highlight that it isn’t fit for purpose.
In which case they would have to refund us all the withheld BPS payments to the English.

How can it possibly be right that we have had BPS payments withheld against an untried and tested scheme, let alone one in its infancy that still requires tweaking?

Quite frankly, as you say:
- it's not a good idea having outdated version on farm as someone could not realise there is an update and get things wrong as a result
This is Defra’s problem NOT ours!

How on earth do they expect us to read, let alone understand all the 156 pages of it on paper, let alone off a computer screen that you frequently have to keep gong backwards and forwards on?

Any sane person would think it is all a joke!

 

[Huno]

It is really exactly the document i feared it might be... so many double funding rules that really it is an impossible choice between intensive production and fallowing.. Neither pay well.. So much for pump priming our Industry... There will be massive changes for all now...

 

[Vader]

@Janet Hughes Defra
AHL3 grass blocks/corners

Good it's back, but this just shows the mess defra is in.
Grass corners were in HLS.
Then got dropped, so all our grass corners, we spent time and money trying to convert to flower blocks, but years of being in grass meant it's been hard and costly.
Now under sfi they back!!

So who decided they were bad and removed them after HLS?
And who now decided they are ok?
This sort of constant u turns and changes is why farmers don't have faith or trust in defra.

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

@Janet Hughes Defra :

Please can we ALL have a PROPER PAPER HANDBOOK rather that a very frustrating online version !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything shown as a ‘green link’ is the biggest TURN OFF there could ever be!
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A HANDBOOK!

All the scheme information is contained in the handbook - any links to external pages etc are just for additional information if you want it (and in many cases are just links to other parts of the document, for ease of navigation if you are reading it online). But if you prefer to print it, as we know many farmers do, we've designed it so that you can do that and have all the info in a single document without having to deal with links and different webpages.

 

[Janet Hughes Defra]

It is really exactly the document i feared it might be... so many double funding rules that really it is an impossible choice between intensive production and fallowing.. Neither pay well.. So much for pump priming our Industry... There will be massive changes for all now...

the double funding rules are only about what actions you can do literally on the same patch of land within a parcel (and there are quite a few of those) - there are lots of ways you can combine different options within the same parcel, eg margins + in-field options, - you will be able to see this in relation to your particular farm in the online application service

 

[Two Tone]

All the scheme information is contained in the handbook - any links to external pages etc are just for additional information if you want it (and in many cases are just links to other parts of the document, for ease of navigation if you are reading it online). But if you prefer to print it, as we know many farmers do, we've designed it so that you can do that and have all the info in a single document without having to deal with links and different webpages.

No @Janet Hughes Defra !
I do not want to print any of it, let alone all 156 pages of it.

I want a proper bound and printed version that I can properly read and properly understand, going backwards and forwards to the relevant sections without losing my way and patience to and of, whilst getting lost and very frustrated about it all!

It is obvious by the cover that it could easily be available as a printed version, sent to all farmers and land manager, just like it used to be done by Defra for BPS, SPS, and IACS.

Just get on with it and kindly send a printed version to us all!

 

[chaffcutter]

@Janet Hughes Defra We have an SFI started 1st January 2023 with Intermediate payment of £40.00 per hectare. I can't find any mention of this in the handbook, is this to be discontinued and payment made only for the Options listed (some of which are included in our CS scheme anyway)?

If this handbook is a clarification I must be going senile, it's sooo confusing!

 

[Huno]

the double funding rules are only about what actions you can do literally on the same patch of land within a parcel (and there are quite a few of those) - there are lots of ways you can combine different options within the same parcel, eg margins + in-field options, - you will be able to see this in relation to your particular farm in the online application service

I look forward to trying the application service again this autumn but the 150 pages are very clear as to what we can and can't do now and at least the clear planning can be made.. I am losing 50k of BPS of which 50% goes to the Landlords and can see a net gain of £5k from SFI minus costs of 2.5K estimated.. my landlords will still want their 50% cut and so in september i will destroy my relationship with them and fight for a drastic rent reduction @Janet Hughes Defra ... this is not a great way to develop future long term business relationships but i will win and they will be very cross IT systems allow for none of this do they??

 

[Two Tone]

Here is an exert from:

Farming for the next generation

Secretary of State Michael Gove sets out his vision on the future of our farming industry at the Oxford Farming Conference 2018

www.gov.uk

“On Countryside Stewardship, I want schemes simplified to the extent that any farmer - any farmer - can complete an application in a working day. Starting at the computer after breakfast the whole process has to be able to be finished by six o’clock when it will be time for a well-deserved pint.”

Now change the words ‘Countryside Stewardship’ for ‘Sustainable Farming Incentive’

-That went well Michael didn’t it ?
It’ll take most of that day to read and understand the 156 pages before doing any of the whole process, let alone be able to be finished by six o’clock to dare be able drink that pint!

The sooner you lot are all gone, the better!

 

[Timbo]

@Janet Hughes Defra :

Please can we ALL have a PROPER PAPER HANDBOOK rather that a very frustrating online version !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anything shown as a ‘green link’ is the biggest TURN OFF there could ever be!
THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT A HANDBOOK!

Nothing to stop you printing it out ?