• Welcome to The Farming Forum!

    As part of this update, we have made a change to the login and registration process. If you are experiences any problems, please email [email protected] with the details so we can resolve any issues.

Your chance to help design ELMS

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
They are keen to do more and build direct line of communication with farmers - maybe next time we can push some more challenging questions!

Here's a question - will more carbon/nitrogen/phosphate friendly practices be "encouraged" e.g. cover crops, no till, herbal leys?

Can you ask him to elaborate more on results based payments next time please? Results require baseline survey and careful result gathering. Baseline measuring pollinators in June won't look good vs the next survey if done 5 years later in January! We've often debated carbon auditing and measuring natural capital is so subjective. Would my grey partridge on chalk downland be worth more than a curlew on marshland? What if the migratory turtle doves (we have 9 sites here this year :love: ) don't turn up due to bad weather or Maltese shooters with a better aim?
 
Last edited:

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Only 35% of farmers have an Agri environment scheme that claim BPS, that's a massive ambition to get all involved!

It was 67% for ELS!

I can't say I blame many - much of what was in the broad-and-shallow ELS is now either embedded in Greening or in the awful narrow-and-steep prescriptive CS schemes that put most off. Some of those were waiting for ELMS and didn't want to risk being stuck in a scheme that required spending 75pence for each £ earned on a limited restrictive list of options when there might be a bigger more lucrative ELM scheme "encouraging" a lower baseline for results based payments.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I know but this is the replacement for current ag subsidy for which it was previously production and latterly land ownership.

Replacement is the wrong word IMO. That implies another teat for addicted farmers to suckle from. We will have to work harder and be able to demonstrate more benefit to the taxpayer.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
It was 67% for ELS!

I can't say I blame many - much of what was in the broad-and-shallow ELS is now either embedded in Greening or in the awful narrow-and-steep prescriptive CS schemes that put most off. Some of those were waiting for ELMS and didn't want to risk being stuck in a scheme that required spending 75pence for each £ earned on a limited restrictive list of options when there might be a bigger more lucrative ELM scheme "encouraging" a lower baseline for results based payments.
I knew ELS was higher I didn't realise it was actually that high.

I did a bit of research on magic maps and the actual number of agreements on farmland is very sporadic. More data on current uptake would help us that are taking part in test and trials know which parts to investigate further to see how it can be made to be a more workable solution.
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
I knew ELS was higher I didn't realise it was actually that high.

I did a bit of research on magic maps and the actual number of agreements on farmland is very sporadic. More data on current uptake would help us that are taking part in test and trials know which parts to investigate further to see how it can be made to be a more workable solution.

Did you mention in another thread that you were part of an ELMS pilot trial? The cluster I'm part of is next to 2 others wrapped around a National Nature Reserve, so has attracted a bit of attention from NE and DEFRA. We've got 3 more in the process of starting up near us too. 2 of our 3 clusters opted not to seek NE facilitation funding as it cost as much as it benefitted. That also piqued the interest of DEFRA, especially their finance team! We found a charitable trust to get some cash from plus we put in £1/ha/year ourselves which covers most of the survey work.

 

DRC

Member
Did you mention in another thread that you were part of an ELMS pilot trial? The cluster I'm part of is next to 2 others wrapped around a National Nature Reserve, so has attracted a bit of attention from NE and DEFRA. We've got 3 more in the process of starting up near us too. 2 of our 3 clusters opted not to seek NE facilitation funding as it cost as much as it benefitted. That also piqued the interest of DEFRA, especially their finance team! We found a charitable trust to get some cash from plus we put in £1/ha/year ourselves which covers most of the survey work.

Is that you Tim Hall on the video.
 

delilah

Member
Having watched that clip, I would say that that's a man who knows that it is all going to be horrendously complicated. Which is a shame really, because it should be quite simple:

1) Government implements a 'buy British food' policy for all Government institutions, so saving the planet by minimizing food miles and meaning productive land doesn't need ELMS cash as it pays its way by feeding the nation.

2) All ELMS cash goes to permanent pasture, being the most stable carbon store we have, thus maintaining the beauty and viability of our tourist areas so keeping the wider population happy.

Job done.
 

Goweresque

Member
Location
North Wilts
How much are hares going to be worth? I counted about a dozen out mowing today, all in different places, so not the same ones. Also a load of deer, at least one buzzard and there's 2 barn owl fledglings in the box in my hay shed, and 2 more in a tree box. How much is that little lot worth as 'environmental outcomes'?
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
^^^^ I've mentioned this before on TFF. My rubbish old farm buildings which I haven't converted are home to barn owls, swallows, and even a hedgehog in the straw shed. If the powers that be are serious about wildlife, they could throw some money at me and others not to convert old buildings.
Public goods ? Hmmmm ? Hmmmm ?

IMG_2213.JPG
IMG_2369.JPG
 

How is your SFI 24 application progressing?

  • havn't been invited to apply

    Votes: 29 34.5%
  • have been invited to apply

    Votes: 17 20.2%
  • applied but not yet accepted

    Votes: 29 34.5%
  • agreement up and running

    Votes: 9 10.7%

Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

  • 2,529
  • 50
On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
Back
Top